Racing ,race tracks & paddock tidbits

Bridgestones Demise

2009-11-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

FYI entire Merc Board was in Abu Dhabi over the race weekend and guess what whose guest they were - Brawn GP, they were in Brawn GP hospitality area the whole weekend. I am not a big Button fan, but somehow it is imperative for Ron/Martin to pull some scoop and get Button On board, A british team, with two brit drivers (WDCs for that matter) may make some Brit sponsors to open their purse. If indeed Merc go for 75% stake in Brawn, Macca is heading Williams way.
Rumors making round few weeks ago were Ron was planning to buy the Engine plant of Defunct BMW F1 team for the power units for the new SLR that Ron has developed after Max forced him out of McLaren F1 after Australian Scandal.
Ross Brawn knows the "Real value" of Button and hence not game to give the Brit 8 Million pound retainer. If Ron/Martin can steal Button, it would secure future of McLaren ( that is if British Sponsors follow Button Hamilton Duo to McLaren)

-----Original Message-----From: RacingForIndiaSent: 02 November 2009 To: Unsui Subject: RE: Bridgestone Withdrawal
Why would ron go to abu dhabi to pacify the mercedes board? If he wanted to do that he could have gone to stuggart.I find the reason why bridgestone left very interesting more than the timing. Its more in line with what bmw said their reason was.

-original message-Subject: Bridgestone Withdrawal From: Unsui Date: 03/11/2009 Isn't the timing of the announcement interesting , on back of Max(benefactor) leaving office. Just like Spotting Ron Dennis on McLaren Pitwall.
I am sure Ron was not in Abu Dhabi only to pacify Mercedes Board (and wooing Arab Sheikhs to buy their new sports car from McLaren)

McLaren, a mystery!

2009-06-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is probably the first time that McLaren haven’t made any significant progress during the season and what makes it more difficult is that there has been an unusual silence from the top honchos about the "updates in the pipeline". The testing ban isn’t helping either, and there are more off track activities to keep them occupied.
Is this a policy change at McLaren, where they access their season upfront and take a decision to scrap the season if their performance is not up to the mark in the first couple of races or is this a genuine engineering problem with the team.
I think the fans deserve to know more and how I miss Ron speak at times like these.

Too long in the tooth

2009-06-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

Practically everything about F1 is stale. The dominance of Brawns (yawn), FOTA Vs Mosely, FOTA Vs Bernie, Bernie Vs Mosely, Mosely Vs Dennis the list goes on.

F1 has ceased to be a sport I once loved and followed like an ardent addict. Instead it’s a lesson for all aspiring Management students under the head of "what not to do" when running a multi million dollar sport.

Latest is that the FOTA have approached MOTOGP boss Carmelo Ezpeleta for a possible break away series. I am certain this is just to send a inconsequential message to Max, who seems intent on leaving a legacy of confusion and mismanagement behind. Having said that, I am not sure he intends to leave anyways.

More to follow...

2006-10-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Season Summary - Stats Talk !!!

While the results that matter are out and well “fought over” .Some statistical data of how the season panned for various teams.

Thanks to Nico (Crash)berg & Technical issues Williams finds itself having dubious record for the years maximum DNF. Point to be noted is
Engine was never Achilles heel for Williams team most of their DNF were due to other technical reasons ( fuel pressure, gearbox, transmission, cooling to name a few) and Ni(Comet) always fell upon the other Williams , unlike the good old days when Pizzonia, Klien took out rivals ( Klien did take out DC once in 2005)
Another interesting stats : While Ferrari-Renault engines did 19500-19700 rpm in races , and Hondas and Mclaren did 19000-19300 rpm, only engine on grid that would do 20000 rpm during race was Cosworth V8.

Sir Frank has a lots of repairs to do if he wants to see the glory days of 90’s.

Honda has done most testing in the season; it’s a mystery that all their work on test track never reflected in Races. (other than when rain-gods played dice at Hungary)
With teams agreeing to testing restrictions agreed upon by the teams for 2007 the onus is back on the Sunday Drivers to make most of the Friday free pracs to work with their engineers to get best setup for Sunday ,like they did in days of Prost & Senna.

Honda (Read Button) has challenge from their sister team Super Aguri ( and Sato), if Taku San’s performance at Interlagos is reflection how much the Aguri team has evolved in course of 9-10 months. Next year Taku will be driving car which Button drove at Brazil and best part is the car will be setup as per his preference,unlike the BAR Honda Days when Taku suffered silent humiliation on 2005 grid with Car Designed as per Jenson’s preference

End of 2005 season ,buoyed by 2005 success, Toyota wanted to implement the Japanese Quality principle of Kaizen in their F1 program and as such was the first team to release their 2006 contender ,but that “Continuous Improvement” never took place. They also start 2007 with a big deficit in as they lose services of Mike Gascoyne.

BMW was in a way most progressed team of the season : The BMW campaign of 2006 season reminds me of Japanese way of keeping the fishes transported to make Sushi fresh ( As per the talks they keep the fish in company with bigger fishes who prey upon them ).While personally the way Dr. T culled Newton ( JV) was a sore point , the Polish replacement of Canadian has shown lots of promise having started late in 2006 , and now Quick Nick finds himself in Canadian’s position. As long as Dr. T is honest about the car he gives to his pilots ,his expectation for the pilots to deliver is valid one . Interesting point with the team was the Driver who was delivering better than Quick nick got the boot and now with even faster rookie in team , the incumbent German Pilot has to be alert on performance ,and if Mario T doesn’t follow double standards in this case ,nobody should complain

Red Bull decided to keep all their eggs in same basket,as they shut the shop on 2006 car and are focusing on 2007 car designed by Adrian Newey, hope their gamble pays off , as it is almost final that they will be running Renault engines in 2007 , lets hope that Renault are as professional to their customers as they are with their own teams needs. It would be an interesting battle to see Renault Vs Renault powered Redbull on the grid.

Interesting story from reliability perspective is STR the Jr. Redbull team(Another Cosworth client), which completed more race laps than likes of Mclaren and Toyota who have done more testing than the Faenza based squad. While Renault is expected to be more professional with their clients ,History of Ferrari doesn’t reflect that , never ever have Ferrari Customer Cars run on same revs as Ferrari in races , maybe its time Ferrari Clients put those Service Level Agreements clauses in their contracts and get fair bang for the buck they pay. Else it will just be story of Ferrari using customers as guinea pigs to keep themselves at top of the game on Engine Reliability front

Midland-Spyker – All through the season the team was more of talking point on whether Alex Schnaider will sell Midland or not , after all the denials ( typical F1 style) ,finally they were bought by Spyker and now they are to become Spyker F1 , Biggest coup was Spyker acquiring services of Mike Gascoyne. Personally Trevor Carlin- Gascoyne would have been right combination to take the team in right direction in 2007 . As such how Colleen Kolles lets Mike to have free reins in team matters would be an interesting point to track in 2007 . On Engine Front Ditto as STR, Ferrari Guinea Pigs part - ii

Mclaren – This Corporate house on the Grid (Greed) needs a mention as we summarize the 2006 season. For the team who was ahead of Renault at end of 2005 something went terribly wrong over the winter , was that terrible thing the lost focus amidst frenzy to woo new sponsors and world champion driver ,where the basics were overlooked ,existing drivers destabilized. The results (especially on speed front) in 2006 should bring them to ground reality. Looking at their 2006 results, personal opinion here is Mclaren 2005 pace was Michelin’s success story of making peerless tyres to last 300+ miles, which now it looks like was one main weapon missing in Ferrari’s armor in 2005.
For Ron Dennis:, End of the day racing is all about building reliable and fast car ,and having fastest drivers to drive them. Mr. Dennis you had two of those for better part of two year. Now you have one. So the ball is in your court, back to basic of building reliable and fast race craft

With FIA reverting back to changing tyres in race rule – Ferrari was immediately in groove in 2006 , but had forgotten the race winning ways in early part of season, after a slow start ,they connected the dots after Imola , and Schumacher and Massa didn’t miss a beat for better part of 2006 , When we discuss Ferrari ,inadvertently topic drifts to FIA and hence controversy , While Ferrari did every thing needed to comeback strong after dismal 2005 campaign,FIA did come to aid by pestering Renault at crucial juncture of campaign with Mass Damper controversy ,For a lay person who is new to sport its difficult to understand how a part that was legal for better part of 2005 and 2006 season suddenly was illegal from FIA perspective. How Alonso who had only one lap to qualify after being forced out of track at Monza gave him puncture, and when he was more that 2 car lengths ahead of Massa could be penalized for blocking Massa , For someone whose priority is to put a timed lap ,it was difficult to judge why “Blocking Opponent” can become more important task .

In last two instances , roles of Technical committee , and stewards becomes important and its high time FIA brings about some transparency and neutrality on this front.

For Lay followers the last two instances were driving factors when taking sides , it was a movie plot of fight of good vs evil and defeat of Renault would have been loss of side which was treated wrongfully.

And like it happens in the Holly wood dramas , fate played its role at Suzuka and Interlagos to ensure the Renault who have showed the paddock a good demonstration how to balance Professionalism ( departing driver effect, restricted finances of parent company for the project , result based support to the project) and love of racing & yet deliver the results. Briatore has a new project in hand in form of Heikki Kovalainen & to produce yet another World Champ in him. While Fisichella had some sympathy in 2005 for all Renault mishaps happening to him, this year departing Alonso beat him fair and square in straight fight, infact in a lesser spec car in final race.

Alonso apart from the final outbreak against his own team showed thorough professionalism, to meet personal and organizational goals (as they say in the corporate jargon)

I

Two hours of Madness.

2006-08-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

How historic is this victory?

A team that traces its roots back 35 years, to 1971, just won its first race since 1983, when Alboretto won the Detroit GP in a Tyrrell

Honda just won its first race as an F1 chassis manufacturer since Surtees won the 1967 Italian GP.

I was going to say that the first Polish driver in F1 history scored points, and in his first race, but an inconsequential 2kg of unexpected tire wear nixed that.

And of course, Jensen Button won his first GP (and might well have done it on pace even without FA's mechanical mishap).

The first ever-wet race at the Hungaroring.

BMW’s first podium with the Sauber Team.

Driver of the race:
Jenson Button

Overtaking Move of the race:
Heck there were so many that its hard to pin down a single one, but Alonsos move on MS, during the first few laps was amazing. He drove on the outside of MS and gambled on a wet track and it paid off.

Congratulations to Jenson Button on his first ever race victory. Honda has tasted blood and they will be unstoppable very soon.

Conflict of interest.

2006-07-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

The following mail conversation, shows what IT professionals do in their Billable timings ;-)
On a more serious note, its one of the best conversations I have had on F1 for a long time, and what a coincidence, its documented as well.
Thanks to Mahesh for letting me publish it.
Its in an unedited version, call it uncensored if you wish.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mahesh Parab
To: 'Nilesh Sane'
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 2:03 PM
Subject: RE: When was

Nilesh,

There is no denying of the fact that Ferrari Bridgestone and rules devised in their favor have been a decisive factor. In fact Stoddart’s Engine article also didn’t mention anything about the tire thing, Mosley who harped abt cost saving , forced Bridgestone and Michelin to spend Millions on Dollars to research on special compounds that could last entire race length & when the results proved favoring Michelins, rolled back to older rules end of one season, In fact Michelin gave a breakup of the excess monies that were wasted in the effort, Again the Michelin Running teams didn’t stood firm with Michelin, No wonder Michelin must have felt betrayed and parted from F1 ( unlike the GPMA who make all noise and then still suck it up).

But all said and done, the mail started from the poll “whether Macca will win any race this season” and hence the points that I brought up. I too am not really defending JPM , but JPM had come to groove with Mclaren way after his return from injury , you can’t deny that. About Kimi fighting his way back from grid , JPM too did that in Hockeinheim didn’t he !? ( well he lost his car in final corner in qualifiers the day before was reason for his demotion). But that doesn’t really cover up the blunders that team has committed in 2006 so far does it ?? .

If like you say that Macca surely handled FA signing “professionally” and confided in Kimi and JPM and still kept their focus on 2006 campaign ,

a) Kimi’s body language doesn’t really reflect that, that he already has Ferrari contract in pocket. He just is content to make his 60-5 laps and return to paddock ,coz anyways he can’t really has car to take it to scruff by neck

b) agreed JPM was more Human element and hence can’t control his temper , but then put yourself in his shoes, your boss gives you all the pep-talk to up your game and all the BS and you arrive at first race and you see logistics botched up ( faulty engine) and then insists that you have to live with that for next two races , then suddenly one race down the line , your car is again screwed up and you get first touch of car at beginning of qualifiers , and all the while keeps rumors going around organization to question your credibility and professionalism and all general BS to cover their @$$ . Can you really deny these “facts” .

Biggest problem with Macca at the moment is mismanagement. No denying that

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From: Nilesh Sane Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 3:48 PMTo: Mahesh ParabSubject: Re: When was

Well Michelin- Renault Combo is working isn’t it !? ,Its only for past couple of races they have been on back foot
Yes its working, but what's equally important is that it worked really well, when Schumacher messes up. Really, if you consider that Schumacher's effectively ruined his chances of winning at Monaco, got stuck behind Truli at Canada and Kimi @ Silverstone, I think he could have won the race. Ofcourse he didn't, but he had a car which was capable of winning, had it been 102 on the grid. Renault has been winning because they have a good car, but more importantly they have Alonso.

Its ok to be a Fan of a team ,but you shouldn’t have one-eyed adoration ,and overlook their mistakes ;~),
:-)) Ofcourse I am not overlooking their mistake, in am only stating that the fact that they are not performing too well is not down to them being carried out due to the Emirate's, Vodafone and Alonso deal it due to purely technical factors within the team.

By haphazard approach now the means they missed out on taking proper brain dump from newey and while chasing the new sponsors post FA signing made public , they didn’t settle the driver issue for good , if they had professionally a) convinced Kimi to stay for 07 ( as he was more of Insider) b) told JPM that 06 performances would be his key to get good drive for 07 and as such they would give him full support to prove his talent on track .
I don't for one moment think that they didn't try all they could to make Kimi stay on for 07, or didn't persuade JPM to up his game, but since that was not happening, they really didn't have much option but to secure a top driver for 07. Heck Ron even said that they made 4 different suspension setting for JPM.
Look, JPM beat Kimi fair and square only at Brazil. His wins at Monza and Silverstone came due to the fact that Kimi started from the back of the grid. As much as I may like JPM, and think that he is equal to Kimi on his days, he didn't match up to him consistently due to whatever reasons. Yes the McLaren didn't suite him alright, and he did do a good job when he was on a song, but don't you think that he could have done a better job at it, cus if he had, he would be the prime choice to partner Alonso for 07.
No fan likes to defend his teams failures, and I am no exception here, but I am not a fair weather fan, though I agree that the Trio at McLaren could've managed 06 better, they did what they could. I sometimes feel sorry for Ron Dennis, as his racing instincts are crubbed by having a German white collared giant like Mercedes dictating terms to him.
Saheb, had Bridgestone and Ferrari alliance not existed, we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation. By speaking on Maccas issues, we are discussing the wrong point, its the tyres which is the real culprit, not the engine or chassis.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mahesh Parab
To: 'Nilesh Sane'
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 12:26 PM
Subject: RE: When was

a) Well Michelin- Renault Combo is working isn’t it !? ,Its only for past couple of races they have been on back foot

b) Newey Factor – Yes I had written to it before, 2U at length , how the current team is not able to come to terms with what might have been a “incomplete handover”

c) But the other mystery factors “ especially from Haug’s (Engine) Dept” are the once they have not addressed, Engine running is a different story , but being able to use engine to maximum is the difference between lying in mid-field and competing for front end.

d) About Norbert Haug , what he is saying on eve of Hockenheim , every lay F1 follower has been saying from season start , and they don’t make those million dollars that Haug makes – so less said the better about this guy

Its ok to be a Fan of a team ,but you shouldn’t have one-eyed adoration ,and overlook their mistakes ;~),
FA signing really changed the balanced in the team atmosphere at Woking..
Score card of Macca at End of 2005 season -  Plus points : Narrowly missed Ch’ship , One driver fastest on grid, second driver finally settling in and starting to match the existing driver on speed and results. Car fastest on grid , capable of blitzing the field even from back of the grid, Minuses : reliability issues ,only hole to be plugged car reliability issues. And getting replacement of start designer who has parted ways

This balance sheet looks healthy , and all ingredients in place to better their 2005 results, Only requirement go back to drawing board ,work on the reliability issues . I don’t have anything against business and securing sponsorship and services of WDC driver , but Macca &/Mercedes hashed up way they handled the situation
By haphazard approach now the means they missed out on taking proper brain dump from newey and while chasing the new sponsors post FA signing made public , they didn’t settle the driver issue for good , if they had professionally a) convinced Kimi to stay for 07 ( as he was more of Insider) b) told JPM that 06 performances would be his key to get good drive for 07 and as such they would give him full support to prove his talent on track .

They wouldn’t have been in this situation first place. What has happened from 1st race onwards is public , and so many questionable things have happened at Macca during the season is well documented (by me) ,so now you tell me … its just violating basic principles of management , Ron-Haug-Whitmarsh messed it up big time, as such I don’t really see a Macca win (under normal circumstances ) ,maybe one off like Spa’04 .

2007-08 well it’s a long way to go ,and we will talk about different things then

(image placeholder)
From: Nilesh Sane Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 2:37 PMTo: Mahesh ParabSubject: Re: When was

I beg to differ.For smaller organizations, getting big marketing deals and signing a WDC would effect its operations, but I doubt if that would be the case with McLaren. It’s basically the Newey effect and the fact that the tyre rules changed, is what’s causing the problems.Even Haug is mentioning that they need to start from the front of the grid if they want to score the big points.But that’s besides the point, as long as Ferrari-Bridgestone alliance exists, I doubt if we will see any competitive races in F1.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mahesh Parab
To: 'Nilesh Sane'
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 11:07 AM
Subject: RE: When was

Totally 4got that Suzuka was the last Mclaren win …

Macca Engine reliability in 2006 is still a debatable issue, Coz for weird reasons Macca is not encouraging their drivers to run on full revs.
Second Matter under cloud is Qualifying Strategy – either really the pit crew has not yet come to terms with the new format , that they release their Drivers at wrong times and drivers get struck behind traffic in Qualis or their Drivers are not yet come to terms with new format.
I have said this time and again unless they qualify on front row they are not going to win a race, and more often than likely will be causalities in mid-field incidents which are common on race start.

Other strategy of good results if they are sure about their speed is a ) pound whole bunch of laps on Friday to get good setup,without worrying about the engine, if the speed is really top notch its better to start from Behind and avoid mid-field skirmishes and win race ( which is what Kimi & JPM did regularly in ’05) , Kimi did that only once in ’06 .

Now that we are at it this whole Starting from back row and still winning is not really a benchmark for “great drive” , rather for faster cars its better to do that and avoid race-start pileups in mid-field. Nico and Webbo have been doing those drives regularly in this season when they are starting from last row and finishing 09-10-11 , even JV did that a couple of races this season , Their results would have been better if they had MP420 under them , but press doesn’t highlight this in the reports.

In nutshell , More than rivals Macca got distracted in Winter events ( signing of WDC and big sponsors) and really hashed up on MP421. The lack of confidence in their car right from Drivers and Engineers has resulted in Mediocre season so far. And unfortunately they haven’t really put their head down and focused on turning around things with car development, rather are just busy with finger pointing , driver bashing , who will drive with FA in ’07 and all things other than races. On Hindsight, Signing of WDC was the key factor that put ’06 season off course, more than rivals they have got distracted and lost focus more than the rivals.

(image placeholder)
From: Nilesh Sane Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 1:10 PMTo: Mahesh ParabSubject: Re: When was

I think it was Kimi at Japan 05. Ever since Mercedes has tied up with McLaren, they have become just so inconsistent.
But here's a school of thought.

Post 2000, when Ferrari dominated F1 for four years, McLaren & Williams were the only teams which came close to dislodging Ferrari. Its not as if the talent at Ferrari was better than at McLaren or Williams, but Ferrari was simply unstoppable and with bullet proof reliability they were impossible to beat. So what made the Ferrari's so fast? Obviously it was the tyres, and the fact that Bridgestone were concentrating on developing the tyres only for one major tyre manufacturer, and pooled all its resources in developing a tyre which would have to suite only one team rather than 5 teams, as in the case of Michelin. Last year, the single tyre rule, threw the cat amongst the pigeons, and Ferrari was caught off guard, as Bridgestone didn't have the data for such tyre constructions. They goofed up, and all it took was one error from Max to under estimate the impact the rule would have on his own stable (read Ferrari). Tyres are more important than those 20-30 odd BHP and sleek aero, and I believe that's what F1 is all about. Its a formula for Tyres and not for cars. heck, Bridgestone didn't have too much trouble with the switch to V8 chassis speck, because the grooved slicks with tyre changing at pits returned. This is a mockery of F1 and its sad to see they people can get away with such an obvious scandal.
Here are some of the race results for the 05 season, and shows how crap the Ferrari really is on equal playing grounds.
Picked em up at random.
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/britain/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/hungary/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/turkey/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/italy/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/belgium/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/brazil/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/japan/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/germany/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/europe/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/monaco/rres.htm
http://www.newsonf1.com/2005/races/spain/rres.htm (Apparently he retired because of TYRES, holy shit, now we don't see that happening too often do we?)

Its a sham, Ferrari struck a winning formula with BS and used BS as their private tyre manufacturer, and FIA turned a blind eye towards it.

I don't know how this would spell out in the long run, but given that Mercedes have more experience with v8 (obviously their engines this year are pretty good), all it requires for McLaren is to do a decent job with the chassis, as they would have having a world champion driver driving for them. The tyre issue will be out, hopefully, if the FerrariStone alliance does not continue.Plus with slicks returning from 08, it would be like turning back to known grounds.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mahesh Parab
To: Mahesh Parab
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 11:09 PM
Subject: When was

The last time Macca won the race ..seems like ages now ..and who climbed the Top step for them :-??
:P

Interesting poll check this

2006-07-03T01:50:00.000-07:00

USGP & Hindsight Wisdom

After conclusion of USGP2006 ,One cannot but help to think of the Fiasco in 2005 with 6 cars shod with Bridgestone tyres racing , What would have happened if Michelin runners had run in 2005 edition probably like yesterday ,8-10 cars would have gone down on lap one on notorius T1-T2 and few due to debris on tracks ,from 1st corner incident and what would have left would have been 9-10 cars like yesterday. It was more or less the same scene on T1-T2 in 2004 when yours truly had best seats to witness the scramble then.

Never the less , again with empty track Schumi got better of his team-mate massa, using pit strategy, Massa led the race for almost 30 laps ,to finish 1-2 for Ferrari.

Alonso for once in the season looked like a Human driver, with problems like his competitors. 4 points finish to him and victory to Schumi means his lead over the seven time WDC reduces to 19 points. While the world watched at Montreal 2005 Alonso Whining to Renault pitwall for Fisi not letting him pass by as he had “faster car”. Alonso did return favor by holding Fisi for too long and depriving him to have a go at the leading Ferraris.

On personal front, watching JPM and then JV ending DNF was not exactly something one stays awake for in wee hours. Though Ron Dennis echoed my observation that Mclaren cars were squeezed by Button and both Kimi and JPM responding differently, one braked and other raised, which basically points this one as a racing incident more than anything. I am still awaiting the official version as released by race director and the stewards after their post race investigation. With this continued Kimi and JPM’s bad run at USGP.
Not much to say , as other than Luizzi’s move on Rosberg on first straight , the race was pretty much a mundane affair. Rather saw more overtaking moves in IRL’s Kansas300 edition ,where Tony Kanan and Vieto Meira made some amazing side by side over taking moves.

Results
01 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:34:35.199
02 F. Massa Ferrari + 7.984
03 G. Fisichella Renault + 16.595
04 J. Trulli Toyota + 23.604
05 F. Alonso Renault + 28.410
06 R. Barrichello Honda + 36.516
07 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
08 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
09 N. Rosberg Williams + 1 laps
Did not finish
10 R. Schumacher Toyota + 10 laps
11 C. Albers Midland F1 + 36 laps
12 J. Villeneuve BMW + 50 laps
13 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 62 laps
14 T. Sato Super Aguri + 67 laps
15 J. Button Honda + 70 laps
16 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 73 laps
17 N. Heidfeld BMW + 73 laps
18 JP. Montoya McLaren + 73 laps
19 M. Webber Williams + 73 laps
20 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 73 laps
21 C. Klien Red Bull + 73 laps
22 F. Montagny Super Aguri + 73 laps

I

2006-06-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

Canadian Grand Prix Preview

With Canadian GP F1 circus travels to the other side of Atlantic.Not many intestring developments have happened between Silverstone and now other than Renault going public with their intention to Fisichella leading their 2007 campaign

The Circuit:

Montreal has a high attrition rate and is very hard on the cars, particularly on brakes and transmission. The track is made up of straights and low speed chicanes, so engine power counts for a lot. After Monza it is one the hardest circuits on brakes. The circuit is only used once a year (Champ car series uses this circuit but after F1 race in August) and the surface is usually very slippery. The level of fuel consumption is quite high. The circuit suits a very soft tyre.

Overtaking manoeuvres : mainly into the hairpin and the final chicane.

Points of Interest: With team trusting Fisi for 2007 , will Fisichella who has done well at Montreal beat Alonso to win his second race of season. Alonso is using his final season in Renault car to complete his to do list ,to win on the circuits he has not won before , and Montreal is one of them. Incidentally this is where we have seen 2005 Champ scoring his only DNF in 2005 ,his last one for that.
Ferrari has been showing better straight line speeds than their competition ,will this help them to ace Montreal race , which has lots of straights ,will be a point of interest for the fans.
Mclaren has continued to improve after their Barcelona Debacle , Monaco and Silverstone has shown their return to form, they have been doing their preparation for highspeed American circuits with Ferrari at Paul Richard, how much that has helped their cause will be known over the weekend.
Sauber BMW has shown tremendous improvement in British GP with both Nick & JV finishing in points. This form has made team boss Mario Thiessen to claim that they are the fourth best team on the grid after Renault-Ferrari-Mclaren. The claim will be validated at Montreal, and the local fans will indeed be rooting for Homeboy Jacques Villeneuve to perform well.
Williams are traveling to the American leg of the campaign with complete upgrade of their package which they have tested by running 2500 kms in recent tests at Monza. How much returns Canadian and Indy races give to the team will be known. The team has been tad too unlucky especially Webber who has retirements while running in strong positions this seasons, fans must be rooting for change of luck for mark & Team Williams.

2005 Podium
K. Raikkonen / M. Schumacher / R. Barrichello

5 Previous Winners
- K. Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes, 2005).
- M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2004).
- M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2003).
- M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2002).
- R. Schumacher ( BMW Williams, 2001).

Fastest Lap
R. Barrichello - 01.13.622 (Ferrari, 2004)

2005 Pole
J. Button - 01.15.217 (BAR Honda, 2005)

I

2006-06-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Alonso turns on the heat at Silverstone.

Driving in his characteristic workman like style Alonso got another win for himself, his first one on this circuit. After the 5 red lights turned off and Fernando was not challenged by both Kimi & Schumi on the first corner, the outcome of race was pretty much evident. The only minute of revelation was when Schumacher blitzed past Kimi ,emerging from second pitstop thanks to stunning outlap after his own second stop. In the midfield , STR’s Scott speed contributed by finishing race of Ralf Schumacher who in turn took down Mark Webber who had good start after starting 17th on grid, Another gainer on race start was Nick Heidfield who swooped past.
Other than this there was not much of interest from spectator perspective.
Winners:
Renault: yet another feather in cap for Alonso and team, and on their current form the team is on right track for their second consecutive title. At this point the competition , doesn’t have necessary confidence in their own capabilities when it comes to take more risks to dislodge Renault from their leading position

Ferrari : After a dismal season that they had in 2005 ,Ferrari are surely proving that they are the top team amongst the rest , whether they are happy with this is a different question, at the moment though they can hope like one “Mr. Ron Dennis” who was hoping that Alonso slips in shower in second half of 2005 season

SauberBMW : Showed good form through out the weekend , and ended with both their drivers ending in points finish. If not for the gear problem which delayed “Quick Nick” on his first stop he was very much in position to consolidate on the brilliant race start he had when he leapfrogged struggling Montoya.

Mclaren: had a mixed bag with Kimi losing out to Schumi on his P2 start during his second pitstop finishing 3rd and Montoya finishing 6th . After Kimi’s DNF at Nürbürgring in 2005the team who claimed “ Finishing second in race means you are first among the losers”, Kimi and Mclaren needed to show more balls and pressurize Alonso on race start like Montoya had done at Silverstone and Interlagos last season. While everyone on grid knows that Fernando always plays is safe and finishing race in points is his first priority at this point, Kimi should have forced the issue.
Montoya and his car never came to terms with the windy conditions in free practice and starting midfield on P8 didn’t help much after racing incident with Villeneuve damaged side pod of JPM’s car, never the less 3 lucky points will keep him in striking range of his team-mate

Losers: There is a long list amongst the rest of the teams that can be put under this heading, but biggest losers are again the audience who are witness to monotonous Renault victories and pathetic attempts on Fernando Alonso to “Bring Fun to F1” in his victory lane celebration, Somebody has to tell this guy his antics look very tacky and are in no league of spontaneous celebrations of Rossi in MotoGP
Result
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:25:51.927
02 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 13.951
03 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 18.672
04 G. Fisichella Renault + 19.976
05 F. Massa Ferrari + 31.559
06 JP. Montoya McLaren + 1:04.769
07 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1:11.594
08 J. Villeneuve BMW + 1:18.299
09 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:19.008
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
11 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
13 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
14 C. Klien Red Bull + 1 laps
15 C. Albers Midland F1 + 1 laps
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 2 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri + 3 laps
18 F. Montagny Super Aguri + 3 laps
Did not finish
19 J. Button Honda + 51 laps
20 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 59 laps
21 R. Schumacher Toyota + 60 laps
22 M. Webber Williams + 60 laps

I

2006-06-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

British GP Qualifiers

Interesting grid for tomorrows race, while Alonso,Schumi is becoming a regular feature on top spots of grid, Kimi did a brilliant last sector to get Mclaren’s first front row after qualifiers. While Car setup issues didn’t go well with JPM in final qualifying session with race fuel onboard ,biggest losers from the qualifiers are Home boy Button for Honda and “Mr. Consistent Webber” .
Having said that Silverstone has always thrown up brilliant races,lots of overtaking ,so there is lots to look forward to in 60 laps on Race day
Times
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:20.253
02 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:20.397
03 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.574
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:20.764
05 G. Fisichella Renault 1:20.919
06 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.943
07 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:21.073
08 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:21.107
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:21.329
10 J. Villeneuve BMW 1:21.599
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:21.442
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.567
13 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.699
14 C. Klien Red Bull 1:21.990
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.076
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:22.207
17 M. Webber Williams 1:23.129
18 C. Albers Midland F1 1:23.210
19 J. Button Honda 1:23.247
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:26.158
21 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:26.316
22 J. Trulli Toyota no time

I

2006-06-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

British Grand Prix Review

After an Interesting racing weekend on streets of Monaco, The F1 circus moves to Silverstone, the home of British Grand Prix. The British GP is falling earlier this year than usual to avoid clashes with the Soccer World Cup. Silverstone, now regarded as one of the most challenging tracks remaining on the calendar, is a home Grand Prix for the majority of F1 teams

The Circuit:

A very challenging circuit, requiring a medium to high level of downforce. Car setup should be made to make the car that is very responsive to change of direction, stable around fast corners and has good traction with minimum understeer for the last part of the lap. Another challenge for the engineers at Silverstone will be to track any changing conditions, particularly the wind which can have a big effect on the car. The circuit is also quite hard on tyres so relatively hard compounds need to be used.

Points of Interest: Last race was run on street circuits and hence not a true reflection of current form of the teams and their pilots. So it would be very optimistic to expect a Redbull Podium finish . Based on how the season has panned out , Renault and Ferrari will still be expected to be competing for the top three finishes, while Mclaren will lead rest of the field and closely follow the top two teams of the season so far.

Of course all of the teams/drivers will have lots of inspiration to draw from their past races at the venue, In 2005 season Silverstone marked the return to form for Montoya,who had won his first race for team Mclaren Mercedes here, while Kimi Räikkönen had a amazing run to 3rd place after having to start the race from middle of grid last year.

For WilliamsF1 team the home race was the stage for the team’s very first victory twenty seven years ago as well the 100th Grand Prix win, achieved in 1997. Over the years, the British Grand Prix has proved to be a most fortuitous track for Williams with over 70% of the races held at Silverstone yielding at least a podium finish for the team.

This weekend will also mark the 200th Grand Prix as a Formula 1 constructor and they have a interesting Tiger Theme on their livery to depict “guardian figures that, in ancient Chinese tradition, accompanied the emperor on the battlefield.” Team Principle Briatore has gone in press to mysteriously back Fisichella for the race win at Silverstone. Whether its just pulling a fast one on Journos or indeed there is some internal arrangement done to that effect will be something to watch for this weekend

5 Previous Winners
- JP. Montoya (McLaren Mercedes, 2005).
- M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2004).
- R. Barrichello (Ferrari, 2003).
- M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2002).
- M. Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes, 2001).

2005 Pole
F. Alonso - 01.19.905 (Renault, 2005)

I

Monaco GP Review (in a rush).

2006-06-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

How often does this happen to you, that you wait for the moment patiently and when it actually happens you are not there to witness it. Mahesh and yours sincerely experienced this while watching the Monaco GP (on the Telly) when we couldn’t resist the temptation of going out to grab a coke and when we returned Kimi had done his usual exit routine from the Monaco GP. That was probably the only moment of importance during the GP, and I am not so sure that I wanted to see it.

Another highlight was Schumaches relegation to the last place for his qualifying antics, and rightly so, because he was braking in a zone where even Alex Yooung would have had to accelerate to keep the pace up, because the corner is just so darn slow. Schumachers deliberate attempt to mess up the qualifying of other drivers brought a lot of disrepute to himself and Ferrari.

The driver of the race for me is a toss up between DC and Webber. Both drove an excellent race and though Webber didn’t get any reward for his performance (well some praise from Flavio), DC got himself onto a podium, the first one for RedBull.

Alonso was his usual calculative self, and with clockwork precision he went about the task of keeping Kimi behind him. Overtaking is impossible at Monaco, and this was an advantage, which Alonso used well.

On an average the race was better than the one we saw at Spain.

Race Highs: DC’s podium
Race Lows: Not exactly a race low, but Schumachers qualifying shunt was a total disaster.

Power Figures for Monaco
Renault
Pace: 10 Reliability: 10
Ferrari
Pace: 9 Reliability: 10
McLaren
Pace: 9.5 Reliability: 5
Willaims
Pace: 8 Reliability: 0
BAR
Pace: 7.5 Reliability: 9
BMW Sauber
Pace: 7 Reliability: 8
RedBull
Pace: 8 Reliability: 10

Monaco GP Preview

2006-05-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

I quote Ralf Schumacher : “Driving an F1 car in Monaco is like flying a helicopter in your bedroom”. OK that might be a bit too far fetched, but every driver in F1 aspires to win the Monaco GP for the simple reason that it’s the ultimate test of driver skills. Its unique street layout, including the tunnel, is not found in any circuits on the F1 calendar. Not to mention that the who’s who of the planet are in attendance to watch the pilots braving barriers and each other in their quest for the top set of the podium. Though this race is nothing short of a procession, but it still makes for interesting viewing compared to the Hungararing.

One peek at the winners of this prestigious race and the pedigree required to win this event is obvious. Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and more recently Kimi and Montoya have all won this event with Senna and Schumacher winning it 5 times each.

Schumi Sr has already started his mind games. He expects Alonso to crack under pressure and drop points. I don’t see that happening. But if he does, will it mean that Schumi can apply pressure better than Kimi? So will Alonso concede to Schumacher’s pressure and hit the armocos at Monaco? NOPE. The Spaniard is way too mature for his age, and is second to none when it comes to handling pressure.

As for the circuit characteristics, since just 50% of the lap is on full throttle this is not an engine circuit. Having said that a good engine is vital here, as a good torque from low revs is necessary to exit quickly out of slow corners, of which there is no dearth in Monaco. The tyre compounds are the softest and there’s usually a very heavy wear rate associated to it as a result of the tarmac, as experienced by Alonso and Fisi last year.

Qualifying
Mad rush, that’s what it’s going to be on Saturday. There’s a great mix of inexperience and legends in the field and I wont be surprised to see a couple of the big names drop out of the top 10. I do expect Ferrari and Renault to be there and may be the Hondas on a light fuel strategy.

Prediction
If you qualify in the top three you are in with a shot at wining this race. Overtaking is impossible on this street circuit and the only place to overtake is while your opponent is in the pits. My hot favorites are the Renaults for this has been a Michelin track since 2002 and though Ferrari will be snapping at their heels, Alonso has what it takes to win this one.
McLaren we so much off the pace that I think a podium would be all they can hope to achieve. But history has proved that if threes any race which can spring a surprise it’s the Monaco GP and both Montoya and Kimi are previous winners here, so they do know how to do it at Monaco.

Jenson Button or Jenson Beaten?

2006-05-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Been reading a lot of defensive press of late. No its not about DaVinci Code or the reservation thinge going on in my country, its about an English bloke called Jenson Button who drives in F1 to Honda.

Before I go into career assignations let me categorically say that I feel Jenson is one of the smoothest drivers out there and in the right equipment he can do wonders. But, hey, who wont. He has the dubious record of 100 GP starts and not a single win, in fact his first ever podium came pretty late in his career. He seemed to finally get going in 04 but his charge, was halted by the late season resurrection of Kimi/McLaren and Montoyas excellent Brazlian GP win. He was nowhere last year and this year after a shoddy start to his season, well it looks like Rubens will be more than the Englishman had bargained for in a team-mate.
The British press, is all over JB, and never out of excuses as to how he didn’t perform and this time they went a lil over board (hence this article). ITV-F1 reported that if Jenson was over a second quicker than Rubens during the Spanish GP, the team should have given some sort of “instructions” to facilitate his overtaking on Rubens. Aren’t these the same people who had crucified Ferrari after Austria 04? Not to mention the fact that if Jenson was really a second faster than Rubens, and a second is a big interval in F1, shouldn’t it have been possible for Button to overtake Rubens on his own merit? Rubens will have the upper hand in no time as he is proven race winner and comes with a good temperament. Well so does Jenson, to be fair to him, but the big mystery is why hasn’t this guy won anything yet. To the pundit, the answer is obvious.

As for Honda catching McLaren this season…. In their “dreams”!!!

Living with a conscience is like driving a car with the brakes on.

2006-05-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

Review of first third of 2006 season

No sooner did it start, F1 2006 season is already six races old, we thought it would be a good idea to do review of season and write our observations on teams and drivers as they stand now

On current form, Renault and Ferrari look leagues ahead of the field. Given the fact that Alonso is not scared to push the car to limits in its second engine cycle , summarizes the strength of Renault Package

At Barcelona the team messed Montoya's qualifiers and JPM messed with teams race in case of Mclaren. But till that moment when Norbert Haug looks eye in eye with his drivers and tells them that his engine will last over two race distances, and its upto them to push the car to limits , Mclaren are pretty much done.

With current engine and team attrition crisis , & new challenge of working with Bridgestone next year, I think the team needs to shelve any ambitious plans at the moment , just focus on one race at a time

Honda and Toyota, is case of lots of small things that need to be worked on, that includes the car the and the strategy ,while ingredients are there , that mystery element is missing, Early podiums last year gave Toyota a great impetus last year. In 2005 this time Jarno Trulli was second in the World championship point, which was the tonic that kept the team upbeat. In case of Honda, it’s that one elusive win which can do the trick to boost the team, a mayhem in Monaco giving either Button or Barrichello a bonus win maybe that mystery ingredient,

For Williams it’s again the question of reliability of package and also need of driver who has “had been there done that" Webbo is yet to climb that final step. Working as a privateer has again its drawback when it comes to funds. Though Sir Frank Williams played a smart move by signing Concorde agreement and signing with Bridgestone this season, especially the latter move will give team initial impetus in 2007 campaign

BMW needs to be patient with their current driver combination which is doing good job in getting whatever scrapes left by the big boys. Mario Thiessen needs to give JV another year, that guy is definitely providing lots of inputs to the development of the team.

Red Bull is no more creating the Bullish atmosphere that they created when they took charge of the “ailing cat” last season; its BMW has taken their spot. Though the picture looks rosy, with Adrian Newey working on their 2007 car, Ferrari customer engine leaves a small element of doubt in recipe of success.

Drivers:

Like the cars Renault Ferrari drivers look in top form, maybe inexperience of Massa to drive for a top team and lapse of concentration in case of Fisico are the factors which separate them from Alonso and Schumi

Now that Renault has committed long term to F1-future , they will put serious effort to steal Räikkönen from Mclaren/Ferrari , In case this bid fails we have a hunch that Flavio will put his weight around securing Mark Webbers services to the team, Mark is in a way in mould of Alonso/ Kimi who knows to put in those consistent time , lap after lap over race duration , not in the mould of racers who can make a good overtaking move ,but then smallest distraction can throw them off track.

GPMA agreeing to sign Concorde agreement for long term will see lots of driver deals becoming public in next 3-4 weeks time. If indeed Kimi moves out of Mclaren, Juan Pablo may get a lease to his F1 career, but not necessarily that preferential treatment in Mclaren, This man needs to compare notes with David Coulthard ,who had similar experience in Häkinnen to Räikkönen transition. Only difference is Montoya is much more watch able driver, with him on track there is always a level of expectation, hope that fans can look forward to on race track.

Massa is another driver who will be impacted with this Kimi-Schumi saga , He and Montoya are sailing in same boat either Mclaren and Renault can use them as stop gap arrangement ,or maybe both the teams can take a gamble for next season trying their rookies , anyways with new tyres to work on they can as well work on building up phase next year. But the gargantuan amount of money at stake, maybe these teams may not trust their car in hands of rookies.

But then that’s F1 the surprises never stop, the off track tidbits are more appetizing than the on track entrée most of the times J

I

2006-05-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Home Boy's Win Delights Spain

Alonso must be truly happy man, the Spanish GP weekend gave him his first win in front of his home crowd, and the win which was with comfortable lead of 18.5 seconds over Michael Schumacher.

Race was pretty much a mundane procession, only point of interest was whether the resurgent Ferrari team would be able to outsmart the Blue and yellow team in the battle of strategies after losing them pole in yesterday’s qualifiers. This they did in Michael’s first stop when he wrested a position from second running Fisichella.

Only interesting on track event was race start of Kimi Räikkönen where the fin dazzled the field to improve his P9 grid position to reach P5, Only other overtaking move of race was an aborted move by Ralf Schumacher on his team-mate Jarno Trulli which left the German driver with bruised nose cone and bruised ego, and race retirement in couple of more laps.
Turn 3 proved to be undoing of yet another driver this weekend, after David Coulthard lost his car here in qualifiers, Juan Pablo Montoya retired after loosing traction control on his car on this turn with 48 laps to go.

Winners: At this moment its just the race between the Blues of Renault and Reds of Ferrari, there is a quantum gap in term of performance between these guys and rest of the field. While the new rule changes, qualifier format, engine rules don’t seem to deter these guys from running their cars at maximum potential race after race. Other teams have no clue how they are going to bridge the gap. With 33% races completed in the season , the tide doesn’t seem to be on change soon

Losers: That includes pretty much the rest of the field, all that they can do is to focus on leftovers from the Renault-Ferrari treat.
ITV commentators: these guys are running short of excuses to justify mediocre results for Jenson Button. This time they were blaming Barichello for holding up the Brit in first stint and in later part when he gave up chase to fill deficit of 3 seconds between him and fourth placed Kimi, they attributed that to Button nursing his engine.
Fans: Third procession race on a trot and one more to come in two weeks time
Monaco after this race doesn’t look much appealing, Imola, Nürbürgring Barcelona…ZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

Final Classification:
1 F. Alonso Renault 1:26:21.759
2 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 18.502
3 G. Fisichella Renault + 23.951
4 F. Massa Ferrari + 29.859
5 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 56.875
6 J. Button Honda + 58.347
7 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
8 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1 laps
9 M. Webber Williams + 1 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
11 N. Rosberg Williams + 1 laps
12 J. Villeneuve BMW + 1 laps
13 C. Klien Red Bull + 1 laps
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
15 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 3 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri + 4 laps
Did not finish
18 C. Albers Midland F1 + 17 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 19 laps
20 R. Schumacher Toyota + 35 laps
21 JP. Montoya McLaren + 48 laps
22 F. Montagny Super Aguri + 55 laps

I

2006-05-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Alonso Romps to Home Pole
It was business as usual for Renault & Ferrari in the qualifying. Alonso made the home fans a lot to cheer about when he produced lap time of 1m14.889s and then topped it with 1m14.648s to grab pole at his home GP. Fisichella made it double for the French team with his drive of 1m14.709s
Michael drove the fastest lap of the day when he circuited the Catalunya track in 1m14.637s in session two , but in final shoot out when it mattered he produced a lap of 1m14.970s to make it to P3 ,Massa completed the top four with his 1m15.442s

Gainers and losers from the qualifying
Biggest gainers are the Toyota duo of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli who take P6-P7 position on grid, Barichello seems to have got hang of the new qualifying format as he beat team-mate button to take P5 position.

Biggest Losers from qualifiers are probably the Mclaren, we have been reiterating this for quite sometime now, the team is yet to come to term with their qualifying woes , while on their current form both Mclaren duo have been making it to the final session , yesterday JPM was bumped out of final ten when in the second qualifying a pit crew made mistake with his refueling which allowed his tyres to cool off. Kimi who made it to final ten didn’t fare much better, every time he got out on track he was stuck behind another car and managed only P9 slot. Circuit de Catalunya doesn’t offer much overtaking possibility which doesn’t project great race day for the Macca.

Williams were the other significant losers, normally Webber has made to final session for all the races, but this time around he is relegated to P11 and team-mate Rosberg to P13

David Coulthard had a forgettable start when he threw his car into barriers at the Repsol curve with 7 ½ minutes remaining in session one, having not registered any time the Scot starts the race at back of the grid. Joins him on last row is Jacques Villeneuve who suffered 10 spot penalty as his engine suffered failure in transit from Nürbürgring

The qualification times

01 F. Alonso Renault 1:14.648 **
02 G. Fisichella Renault 1:14.709
03 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.970
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.442
05 R. Barrichello Honda 1:15.885
06 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:15.885
07 J. Trulli Toyota 1:15.976
08 J. Button Honda 1:16.008
09 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:16.015
10 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:17.155
11 M. Webber Williams 1:15.502
12 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:15.801
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:15.804
14 J. Villeneuve BMW 1:15.847 *
15 C. Klien Red Bull 1:15.928
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.661
17 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.361
18 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:17.702
19 C. Albers Midland F1 1:18.024
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:18.920
21 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:20.763
22 D. Coulthard Red Bull no time

* Ten spot grid penalty
**The time betters 1m14.819s by Räikkönen to take pole last year

I

2006-05-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

Sir Stirling Moss reviews European GP’06
Sir Moss has made some interesting points particularly about two weekend per engine rule and the third session of current qualifying format in his review of last weeks race. Of course he drifts into the realm of “Good Ol days!!” when he talks about changes to Nürbürgring circuit and first corner pile ups in modern day F1 races. Interesting perspectives from the master driver though..

Massa Praise or ….
Team Principle Jean Todt’s praise of his second driver Felipe Massa, on his performance comes with a fine print. "I think we have three drivers in this championship, who have something a bit more than all the others and I think Felipe is amongst the best behind those three drivers." In other words what is conveyed to the guy is “Yes you are good, but we still want Kimi to pilot our Car with Schumi for the next season” Wonder what plans Massa’s manager Nicholas Todt has for him, or maybe he is too busy basking in glory of his teams double podium finish in recent GP2 weekend at Nürbürgring.

Webber for Williams
This is been twice in last two weeks that Webbo has expressed his wish to continue with Williams. As much as this tell about Mark the gentleman on & off the track, but also it tells something about Flavio. Maybe Webbo doesn’t want him as his team boss. On current form drivers would kill to get the Renault race-seat. But Webber is still skirting clear of the idea to fill in seat vacant after Alonso’s departure. But those who recollect the Trulli- Renault affair in 2004,where the team dumped Italian ,spite of the fact that he was the driver who had given them their only win of the season at Monaco .All that was forgotten after minor lapse from Trulli let Barrichello past him at French GP’04 ,next thing we knew Trulli’s car had trouble, his GP weekends got messed up for rest of season and finally the team dumped him and let Villeneuve drive in his place in for final races of the season.
We are sure Fisichella’s last two weekends performance has not gone un-noticed by team & especially the man behind blue glasses J

Ide’s Super-license revoked
The news from grape-vine is finally official , more than anything we feel sorry for the Japanese rookie, while we have likes of Kliens, Pizzonias & then we have stubborn Tiago who is one color blind driver who can’t see blue color at all. We don’t remember FIA revoking super license of these guys. Now Montagny is sure of race drive till Monaco, I am sure the Brits must have already started fancying chances of Ant Davidson driving for SA-F1 after that.

Change is Constant
Season started with *BAR*Honda becoming fully a works team after Honda completely bought out the team from partners *BAR*, also Jordan and Minardi were reduced to status of just another page in F1 history!! Looks like we have something similar on cards for Mclaren , if this happens, only two marquees on the grid, those of Ferrari and Williams will be remaining as past links to F1 tradition. Like they say only thing constant in life is change, we can’t really say much on this, but then sometime out of nowhere we see some fan sporting a Jaguar or Minardi Shirt and mind goes in retro mode

Interesting Quote:
"I'd rather have the car fail than to be at Williams and finish every race eighth" - Juan Pablo Montoya - August 16th, 2005.

Really interesting, especially in light of his current situation and also that of Mclaren in terms of performance

I

Will McLaren finally crack it?

2006-05-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

If there ever was a circuit where McLaren can be expected to crack the nut it’s the Circuit de Catalunya. They were so close at Nuburgring but couldn’t transform their pace to secure a race win. The Spanish circuit has got one “genuine” overtaking opportunity, and if a pilot can get a good run out of Campsa, he could get another one at La Caixa. But what good are overtaking opportunities, if the guys aren’t in the rhythm, as is the case with McLaren of late.

I am predicting a strong race for McLaren and Renault, and Ferrari despite their win at the EruoGP would not figure in the scheme of things. That’s a bold prediction indeed, but I can see the potential in McLaren and it’s only a matter of time before they crack it.

Renault and Alonso will be the team to beat though, with Alonso riding on a wave of supporters, he will be motivated and under pressure. We know how well he can handle pressure, and the way he goes about winning WDC, though boring to many is very effective. He I believe will be content to settle for the second step on the podium as long as the margin is comfortable for him.

Kimi needs to pull something special to win the WDC from here, as his car is not what it was last year and he needs to push in that much more to secure victories. Both Kimi and JPM are clearly lacking motivation, and I do believe that though the car is capable of winning races, these guys are already thinking about their race seats for the future. This is not good for a team, which always boasted of a very stable driver line up.

So as things stand, here are my predictions for the race
Qualifying

Alonso

Button

KIMI

MASSA

Race

Kimi/JPM

Alonso

Massa

Button

Nico

2006-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Spanish GP Preview

Formula One Circus will make its next stop at the Spanish Grand Prix, which is being held at the Circuit de Catalunya for the 16th time. This year’s Spanish GP will see Spanish World Champion on the grid in form of Alonso. The organizers have built additional grandstands this year, and ticket sales report indicate full house audience to cheer home hero
Catalunya circuit has been happy hunting ground for Schumacher and his Ferrari team, but their winning streak here was broken by Finn Kimi Räikkönen who had won the race from pole last year.
In many ways Circuit de Catalunya wouldn’t throw many surprises to the team and the drivers as this is favored testing venue of all teams and as drivers know the track very well, it is likely to be a tight race.
With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. However it has very little elevation change and few exciting corners. Overtaking is rare,the Circuit is always a bit tricky due to the wind, which makes it hard to find the right aerodynamic set-up. The circuit was resurfaced prior to 2005 season, with several long, high-speed corners tyre choice is also another difficult matter.

Trivia

In the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix Mika Häkkinen suffered a clutch failure while leading the race on the last lap, handing the win to Schumacher.

In the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix Michael Schumacher managed to finish in second place despite driving over half the race with only fourth gear.
A milestone will be reached for David Coulthard this coming weekend when the Rec Bull racer clocks up his 200th Grand Prix start as the teams contest the sixth round of the 2006 season here at the Barcelona circuit.Incidentally his 1st start was at the same venue in 1994 when Williams introduced him as replacement of Late Ayrton Senna who died in Imola 94 raceCongratulations David!!.

2005 Qualifying results

K Räikkönen Mclaren 1:14.819
M Webber Williams
F Alonso Renault
R Schumacher Toyota

Previous Winners

K. Räikkönen (Mclaren Mercedes, 2005).
M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2004).
M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2003).
M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2002).
M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2001).

2006-05-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

The Man in the "News" talks
Interview of Lewis Hamilton, who is in news, after his mentors from team Mclaren have said subject to his form, it is possible for him to partner Fernando Alonso in Mclaren for 2007 season. If only media create less hype and leave the kid alone. This is just a first GP2 win for him, and it is yet to be seen whether or not he annihilates his competition like Nico Rosberg did in his GP2 season last year, something that caught eye of Sir Frank Williams.
Some facts we can’t overlook before we go overboard with Hamilton story:

Lewis should remember having eye for Talent , and giving young blood a chance is penchant of Frank Williams and Flavio Briatore, Ron Dennis has traditionally preferred to do “Off the shelf” shopping.

And till last weekend the deal between Mclaren and Lewis Hamilton was that Mclaren Bosses would “Buy” Lewis a race seat with “smaller” team to get him acclimatize with rigors of F1 ,and then he can graduate with their team

JV penalized – What about Schumi
Something from last weekend race, Race coverage showed clearly Villeneuve was 4-5 car lengths ahead of Fisichella, as such couldn’t have affected his car speed , unless of course Fisi gets distracted seeing other car on track ( well that’s the challenge for all the drivers in current qualifying format). This reminds me of something similar that had happened at Imola qualifier, the Culprit Michael Schumacher and victim Toyota driver Jarno Trulli whose qualifying lap was hampered by out lap of Schumi. But the local stewards conveniently overlooked this incident. Trulli had promised to avenge that incident, he didn’t get a chance in Nürbürgring (thanks to early retirement), will he do it and whenever he does that how will he be treated by the race authorities ??

Interesting Quote:
"Alain will do everything in his power to win, he doesn't like getting beaten by anyone and least of all me." Nigel Mansell on Alain Prost

I

May 09, 2006

2006-05-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

Misplaced case of Carrot and Stick
Ex-champ Jacques Villeneuve is realizing this fact in light of his return to form. In spite of outshining his team-mate this season , he is still not obvious choice driver to be retained for next season as per team boss Mario Thiessen. Reminds us of maxim which we had put on this site some time back "Correction does much, but encouragement does more." Err incidentally for the same team boss L

Mclaren toys with Hamilton option
It’s a high time team bosses need to take some psychology and people skills classes. Now we have talk of Mclaren bosses planning to expedite GP2 prodigy Lewis Hamilton to F1 in season 2007. As is it the team started on wrong note by giving a destabilizing message to their current drivers start of season, now they also are dousing hopes another hopeful Garry Paffett. Hasn’t someone told them its kinda too early to make any call , its just first victory of season for Hamilton in the series which is led by Nelson Piquet Jr (by a solitary point after this weekend)

Todt’s vote of confidence for Mclaren
For a team which has been renowned for playing psychological warfare with competition, Ferrari team principal is last person whose opinion can be treated as patronizing. This comment should give hope to the Macca Fans, who are waiting eagerly to see the Silver Car beat the field to take their first win of season. Hope the climb to the top step starts from Barcelona this weekend J

Montoya’s view on Schumi status
Another of those misplaced opinion ,especially coming from person who is not sure about his own future in F1 with top team ,it is going to meet with nasty comments like “Mind your own business Juan”

V8 or V10? Does it really matter??
The drivers had mentioned about the speed of V8 car is at par with V10 after recent tests. These claims were indeed backed by Fernando Alonso's pole position lap time (1.29.819) at Nürbürgring’06 was, incredibly, actually faster than in 2005 (Nick Heidfeld, 1.30.081), despite the loss of about 200 horse power with the V8 engines.

Interesting Quote:
"The difference between me and Senna is, to BELIEVE in god or to think YOU ARE god..." – Alain Prost

I

May 07, 2006

2006-05-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Michael Schumacher has responded to his detractors with his victory at the European GP that he still has got what it takes to be at top. At end of race all the competitors must have realized that Ferrari has returned to form and that good showing at Bahrain and Imola will be norm and not exception for rest of the season.

Race was pretty much a nondescript affair with not much of on track action. Ferrari and Schumi put their foot down at the right time around second pitstop of Fernando Alonso, built up sufficient lead, and efficient pitstop from Ferrari pit crew ensured that Michael was never in trouble.
While wet weekend was being predicted by the met department, rain played hooky Nürbürgring is infamous for 1st corner incidents on race start ,surprisingly not much of pile-up was seen , though Ralf Schumacher did trigger a chain reaction which resulted in STR of Vitantonio Liuzzi hit RBR of David Coulthard , ending his race on lap 1 ,David came to pits for repairs , but apparently the damage done was too much and David called it a day with 58 laps to go.
The steady stream to attrition continued till the very end of race and only 13 cars finished the race.

Winners
Michael Schumacher & Ferrari : This race must have instilled the self belief in himself and his car for Schumi. The very fact that he was able to respond to Alonso by stepping up his speed when required and his car supporting him all the while will definitely lure the guy to continue with Ferrari for another term.
With both their cars returning 1-3 podium finish, Ferrari have bagged 16 points from the weekend. Schumi did get his share of scare at race start when team-mate Massa did blaze to turn one , then froze suddenly on moment when he saw himself alongside Schumi,once Schumi moved ahead ,Ferrari team battle was pretty much settled for rest of race

Alonso and Renault: Safety first seems to be the motto of the incumbent championship; then again he has excuse of saving the engine for next race. So once Fernando found himself being beaten by Michael in second pit-stop he was pretty much content to drive for his 2nd place finish , 8 points from race means he maintains healthy lead over the competition. If the trend continues for rest of reason Fernando can definitely win his second title with Renault for sure.
Another “Ohh poor me !!” race for Fisi this time around he could make cut for the final session in qualifier , due to alleged held up by Jacques Villeneuve . Jacques was given one spot grid penalty but that didn’t help Fisichella cause ,who was pretty much left to battle it out in mid-field , with Heidfield, Montoya , and Villeneuve harassing him till his second pit stop. Finishing 6th ahead of Villeneuve , getting 3 points for team must be some solace for the Italian.

Nico Rosberg: With grid penalty for engine change and bad qualifier which saw him start at end of field, 7th place finish and two championship point makes Nico my driver of the race. Nico was fuelled to brim at race start and made his pit-stop as late as lap 33 , taking this into account he had good chance of bettering to 5th or 6th place finish, if team would have run him on one stopper, the pit stop on lap 49 was bit surprising , unless of course his Bridgestone tyre were sure to give up before race end . All the same good drive by the rising star of F1

Losers
Mclaren: This team is on fast-track to join the ranks of Honda, only thing required is some clumsy gaffes in pitstop. Barring the disciplined pit stops the team is pretty much doing a Honda, While fourth place finish for Räikkönen may look good on paper, the returns from the revised B spec engine were not reflected in lap times of the Finn. The Iceman drove pretty much ordinary race and was content to tail Massa to finish four, fans who remember his Suzuka’05 drive to overtake Fisichella on last lap, expected much more given the fact that he was barely 0.599 seconds behind Massa in final stages and this circuit has enough overtaking opportunities. Montoya had a bad race start and was running on 11th place at race start after starting 8th (maybe he was still fighting the race start ghosts of last two races at Nürbürgring) . He gained a place on Fisichella on track , and having pitted as late as 27th lap , One stopper would have seen him end up 5th , but second pitstop on lap 48 meant he was finishing 9th at best. Meek engine failure couple of laps later saw the Colombian end up with DNF result second time in season.

On current form things are looking bleak for the team. Not able to use Friday driver and engine related restricted means limited track time to the race drivers has not helped the cause of Mclaren team, whose drivers more than anything are seemed content to nurse their engines and trudge around the race, while last year the drivers were more confident and taking the car to the limit and getting good results.

Honda: Barrichello had out qualified his team-mate but was frozen on race start to lose places , 5th place is more of result of wrong strategy for Montoya by Mclaren team and his subsequent retirement, Button started well but ended with engine failure 32 laps to go .

Our perspective : If FIA is really keen in cutting costs , do away with engine penalties and Friday Driver rule , that will give race drivers to work on car setup on track . Further fans won’t be deprived of racing, Currently for most of the drivers “Nursing engine” has become a good excuse for not fighting for positions on track

May 06, 2006

2006-05-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Renault Ferrari Shine on qualifying day…
True to his form Fernando Alonso beat Michael Schumacher with time 1:29.819 to take 10th Career pole. Qualifying was an interesting affair and like always had its own set of  “incidents”  to tell. While this time around none of the drivers caused red/yellow flags on the track in qualifying session ,but in  absence of official timings at end of first session ,drivers were not sure who were the six to be relegated . the second session started late as a result with Klien, Albers, Speed, Monteiro, Sato, & Montagny qualifying 17-22
Second session had its incident at the end as well. We had Fisichella barging at BMW garage to confront Villeneuve whom he held responsible for  messing up his qualifier by helding him behind him. The eliminated guys here Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Trulli, Liuzzi, & Fisichella.
Third session had its initial Snooze mode period after which drivers pitted to shod new tyres in last 6-7 minutes  and at end we had Alonso leading Michael Schumacher.

Points of interest:

Barichello out-qualifying Button ,does this mean Brazilian has finally come to terms with his Honda

Mclaren form looks dodgy given the fact that Kimi is driving Car powered on new version of Mclaren Engine. While Montoya going slow can be attributed to his running on engine in second cycle ,Kimi’s qualifying in midfield is puzzling

Montagny’s qualifying time and the deficit he carries as compared to Takuma Sato,doesn’t really justify Ide’s exclusion from Team perspective. It needs to be seen what happens over race distance.

The Qualifying grid
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:29.819
02 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.028
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:30.407
04 R. Barrichello Honda 1:30.754
05 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:30.933
06 J. Button Honda 1:30.940
07 J. Trulli Toyota 1:31.419
08 J. Villeneuve BMW 1:31.542
09 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:31.880
10 M. Webber Williams 1:33.405*
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:30.944
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:31.194*
13 G. Fisichella Renault 1:31.197
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:31.227
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:31.422
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.728
17 C. Klien Red Bull 1:32.901
18 C. Albers Midland F1 1:32.936
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:32.992
20 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:33.658
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:35.239
22 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:46.505

*: Williams duo have 10 spot engine penalty

I

May 05, 2006

2006-05-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ide Culled from F1
Franck Montagny will be partnering Takuma Sato at Nürbürgring. The 31 year old Ide, who as per the team was not performing at par with Takuma-San, I feel sorry for the chap, who has not driven outside Japanese Formula Nippon, got selected in team who had logistics not put in place, only track time the person gets in on race weekends, Cold weather and lack of grip made Albert Park tough on likes of Schumachers, Buttons and Montoyas. Imola race the guy just tried to keep on the track, and there was simply no space for two cars on the tracks, probably what was expected from him by the stewards was to drive into run off area every time another car was in proximity!?
Thanks to this development, we have a French man driving for an All Japanese team while French Renault have already shut doors on French drivers like Montagny  & Sébastien Bourdais

Narain Karthikeyan Updates
While we are at news of one rookie driver shown F1 door, we have Indian Driver Narain Karthikeyan expressing happiness at his current WilliamsF1 stint. This is typical Indian psyche of being happy in less we should say. After his sponsors shelling in so much money to the fledgling WilliamsF1 team they couldn’t even get him Friday Drives on selected venues on calendar, makes us wonder what exactly is he happy about? Also questions arise on what kind of negotiations did Narain and his sponsors Tata had with Sir Williams, which makes Narain a non-paid factory driver at Williams.

In light of Ide’s inability to get hold of F1, Narain’s Jordan stint showed the prowess of Indian driver to handle an year old car decently, we remember him as the only back marker who was a thorough gentleman when it came to handle blue flags, If only he  had beat his team-mate in the ill-fated USGP’05 to take podium, situation would have been different for the driver. Also standing out is Aguri-Sans sense responsibility towards Yuji Ide in Team principal’s press release

Ross Brown Surrenders Championship chances
In spite of putting on a optimistic demeanor at the end, Ross Brown accepts that the 36 points out of possible 40 that Alonso has bagged so far has given him and Renault an early impetus in their campaign of title defense. This is not good news for the Ferrari Fans and at the same time highlights the form the Alonso/Renault combination is enjoying for more than a year now.

Drivers advocate change to qualifying format
While the initial reaction to the new 3 split qualifying format was positive, more opinions are coming up to tweak the format, Now the Drivers association have formally voiced their concerns on the new format. We had our reservations because the track incidents deprived many a faster cars from getting sufficient track times and thus relegating them to bottom or middle of grid. In last split as well, to comply with 110% rule the drivers make rounds of circuit, which gets boring for TV as well as trackside audiences.
Personally single lap qualifying had really all the elements of adrenaline pumping thrill, It was exciting for audience to see if driver was able to beat the top timing, It was also exciting to see who could hold their nerves especially when their rival has posted good time. Last season at Brazil for example, Kimi cracked under pressure when team radioed him end of his warm up lap that Alonso had beat JPM’s time to take provisional pole, the uncharacteristic error on entry of final corner by Räikkönen was clear indicator of the pressure situation. Main pro of this system was that it gave every driver a fair chance to put his best time with track all available to himself, and not having to encounter slow cars and traffic

One +ve  benefit of current format - last 20 minutes stint was good for Juan Pablo to acclimatize himself with the track changes at Imola and to get hang of T car which he was driving , after his regular car encountered problems at end of Free practice on Friday.

Kimi Räikkönen interview at ITV.com
ITV exclusive  raises few questions about

Mclaren Management – If Kimi was on first cycle of his Mclaren Engine at European GP, why was Juan Pablo testing the new engine at Silverstone last week first place, If I was Ron Dennis, I would be giving the engine to test to man who will be driving it on race track and take his feedback.

Kimi’s plans for 2007 – More than anything he sounds disinterested in the Mclaren 2006 campaign, maybe the rumors making round of his move to Ferrari are indeed true

The perfect Mclaren spokesman!?
Guess who is speaking enthusiastically about Mclaren upgrades, the Mclaren Blue eyed boy Juan Pablo Montoya J. World of F1 never stops to amaze me.

PS: Put the last two news bits together and go figure for yourself where we are heading in 2007

Interesting Quote:
“If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough” – Mario Andretti

I

May 03, 2006

2006-05-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Is Mclaren the team to be in 2007?
Attrition has been the buzz word at Mclaren, while the team poached readymade world champ from Renault, the team has been losing key technical personnel almost on regular basis. It all started when David Coulthard lured the star designer (and his mentor) Adrian Newey to Redbull. There isn’t a week when we don’t hear news of someone leaving Mclaren, the latest entry Neil Martin is moving to Redbull. Interesting point to be observed is the people who are leaving are not one of the drifters category one finds in paddock, these people have spent their lives at Mclaren. With that background, money is not the obvious reason why the key staff is leaving the team .Is it change in Mclaren culture that is taking away these people from the team?
Trying to map this to Kimi-Schumi and 2007 driver line up saga, I really wonder would both Juan Pablo and Kimi be really making a wise choice if they plan to stick with Mclaren, whose management have betrayed them time and again with unreliable cars in 2005. While Mclaren was fastest car on grid with reliability issues from day one in 2005 season, in 2006 so far both Kimi and Juan have been very tentative in way they handle their and Mclaren really doesn’t look at par with Renault. It remains to be seen if the team really comes up with a car to fight Renault dominance thereby creating the much needed impetus for the team for a brighter future..

In support of Jense...
Grandprix.com has come out in defense of Jenson Button, Jenson is sole Briton on the grid (of course we have Scot David Coulthard and Test driver Ant Davidson). As much as we feel sorry for him, the problem lies with British Press, While US press (and now rest of world media) have tendency to put people on pedestal, and then start hurling dirt on their face. British press traditionally tend to project even their ordinary achievers as “All time greats” . Anyone who can remember the tennis duo Tim Henman & Greg Rusedski , come Wimbledon and British press in lame hope that they will see a British Champion waste million a keystrokes in describing how these guys are at top form, practicing hard ,( some sympathetic guest commentators “courteously” back these claim) and then likes of Samprases and Federers end up winners. Another recent messiah the press have found is in cricketer Andrew Flintoff ,whose heroics helped Poms win back the revered Ashes urn from Aussies after nearly two decades .Buttons story is pretty much the same. If Button wins,whenever that happens , Brit press will go overboard in covering every little thing the poor fellow will do , like recently they have been harassing Freddie Flintoff.

Interesting Quote
There are a lot of IFs in Formula One, in fact IF is Formula One backwards!" – Murray Walker, The voice of F1 for over 50 years

I

May 02, 2006

2006-05-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

European GP Preview

Nürbürgring circuit used for the F1 race is 5.148 km or 3.199 miles long, equating to 308.863 km or 191.938 miles over the 60-lap race distance. This is a technical track, which is not really hard on tyres. It is difficult to overtake here, although there are opportunities entering the first corner and the hairpin. The first corner can often be the end of someone's race, this chicane being notorious for first lap accidents. The suspension setting needs to be such that the car can use the curbs and yet still be responsive to change direction in the chicanes.

Fernando Alonso heads into this weekend’s European Grand Prix with a commanding lead in the 2006 drivers championship after scoring two wins and two second placed finishes form the opening four events of the season. Fernando has new B spec RS26 engine at his disposal, Fisichella used the same in last race at Imola but qualifying in midfield at Imola didn’t really gave Renault to make most of the upgrade.

Rival Mclaren are set to race Mercedes' latest V8 engine at the Nürbürgring, after Juan Pablo Montoya tested it successfully on last Wednesday at Silverstone. Although Montoya did the V8 honors at Silverstone, however, only his teammate - Kimi Räikkönen - will benefit from the first new upgrade in European GP.
Mclaren are behind Renault by three or four tenths. The new engine could bridge the gap to within two tenths as per Mclaren 'F1 CEO' Whitmarsh

Ferrari arrive at Nürbürgring to prove to their competition that their Imola performance was reflection of their true form and not result of Imola track attributes which gel well with Ferrari and their tyre supplier Bridgestone. The team had been testing at two venues Paul Ricard and Fiorano. While there has been a cry from Honda about flexi rear wing of Ferrari, the team has held its ground firm claiming that its developments are well in line with FIA regulations.

Honda had a forgettable weekend at Imola two weeks ago, where after qualifying on P2 P3 both Honda drivers drove back and back during race, this compounded by some gaffes during the pitstop, let the team red-faced with embarrassment. After Imola Button personally gave pep talk to the Honda Personnel, whether or not it pays some dividend, we will know by this time next week.

Watch out for:

First Corner (Valvoline Curve) Pile up on race start.

High attrition rates which are common place in this race.

5 Previous Winners:

F. Alonso (Renault, 2005).

M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2004).

R. Schumacher (Williams, 2003).

R. Barrichello (Ferrari, 2002).

M. Schumacher (Ferrari, 2001).

Interesting Quote
"Winning is like a drug...I can't settle for second or third in no circumstances whatsoever" - Ayrton Senna

I

April 30,2006

2006-04-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Webber’s 2007 plansOn their current form Renault F1 would be one team every driver on the grid would dream to drive for, but not Webber, who wants to continue with Williams F1 team. Given the fact that Williams is not backed by a works engine and Cosworth don’t have enough resources to work on issues like manufacturer team like Renault or a BMW, this is a bold move. Webber is one person who is made of different mould and hence stands out on grid. Opportunism is the mantra of grid,recent Buttongate and Alonso Jump incidents are still fresh in minds of Racing fans and this one example really is exceptional example. But then that’s the way Mark Webber is. If people remember Nürbürgring 2005 Race, Webber made contact with Montoya in first corner incident, and he was honest to accept it which is another rarity in F1. Talking of Nürbürgring in 2004 edition Montoya Punted out his then team-mate Ralf Schumacher and was quite cool about it, maintaining it was not his mistake

JV on new qualifying format
Confusing for driver’s puts drivers and engineers in Dilemma when to let the drivers on track. These views do echo the questions in minds of fans as well. While many a drivers wait in first two parts to go on track for last five minutes ,can’t recover if they commit a mistake or get caught up traffic or are victims of other drivers mistakes. In case of JV he was innocent victim of his team-mate’s error on final corner at Imola.
I

April 28, 2006

2006-04-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

The making of another ‘Superteam’
First we had JPM-Räikkönen as most strong driver lineup on the grid start of season 2005 , then before giving them proper logistics , Ron Greedy Dennis jumped gun to buy ‘off the shelf’ Champion. We have this news been circulated in latest edition of Schumacher-Kimi-JPM Soap Opera. Only substantial information that comes out of this news is Marlboro brand’s long-term commitment to the Italian team through to the end of 2011. We were seriously under impression that with heavy regulations on tobacco companies sponsoring sports team, like their competition Phillip Morris is also on their way out of F1 end of 2006 season.
Second aspect of this story is if indeed Kimi moves to Ferrari on side of Schumacher, Juan Pablo has better prospects to remain in Mclaren team, but given the reputation of unreliable Mercedes engine and fact that some of the brilliant technical staff like Adrian Newey, Nicholas Tombazis and Peter Prodromou have left Mclaren, will Mclaren be the same force to reckon starting 2007
     Is there any chance Red Bull racing moving to Renault as their engine suppliers??

Is Christian Klien being shunted!?
In two of their recent tests Red Bull racing team got their B team driver Luizzi to help the team in testing, this is interesting development, especially when we know the team owner Dietrich Mateschitz  had some interesting observations in what he expects his team drivers to deliver  punt

V8 faster than V10 at Silverstone
Montoya endorses views of most of his rivals that lap times have not gone down as compared to those done by car equipped with V10 engines. Personally even I was not much happy to see V10 being replaced by V8 engines, but having seen the cars on race day, I too agree that things have not changed in F1 with respect to speed.

Mosley excusitis
After hounding the GPMA teams that all his whims are to make F1 more cost effective & make the playing field leveled for Privateers, Then the claim was this will enable more teams to join F1 , Hype was created that Fans were expecting to see 25-30 cars racing on race day, now all of sudden Mr. Mosley gives excuse that most of the circuits are not equipped to accommodate more number of teams on grid , in terms of logistics. Well this was the first stupid argument we had posed as fans, but then we were given false dreams by FIA

Sour grapes case
Honda does what it can do the best , whine and whine. Just when we thought ferrari rear wing issue was closed by end of Sepang weekend, Honda is trying to bring stale stew to boil. Will nick fry , button and company realize that they really have lots of ground to cover before they can seriously think about challenging for race wins, Championships are much later milestone. That doesn’t stop Nick Fry from issuing customary statement about how Jenson Button is motivated more than ever. Pounding miles after miles in testing is meaningless unless fans really see a move in positive direction.  On a separate note , Agur-San had mentioned few weeks back that Super Aguri Personnel were moved to senior Honda team, the fiasco in  pit stops at Imola certainly confirmed those claims J

Interesting Quote:
“I told my nephew that if he wanted to get on in motor racing, the first thing he should do was master English. Thank goodness he now speaks it.” - Juan Manuel Fangio
Wish Kimi had received words of wisdom from some wise uncle :P

Latest Updates:
Prodrive led by Dave Richards have got the 12th spot on 2008 Grid. So now we have 24 cars on the grid.
Some observations:

All current team got entry , while the new teams had to show more competencies, to get the their proposal accepted, likes of Super Aguri & MidlandF1 ,which are really struggling to keep pace with developments introduced by their rivals should have been culled from the grid and more deserving teams with credibility in other Open wheel racing racing series got a not ,reference here is to Carlin Motorsport and Spanish GP2 team race engineering

Talking about open wheel racing experience , Prodrive has none their team is involved in World Rally Championship.

FIA has stuck to its tradition of taking arbitrary decisions.
FIA vision statement: “Let’s give them something to talk about”

I

April 27,2006

2006-04-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Paddock Pulse - Ted Kravitz@Imola
Ted has mentioned about two drivers ,who are not the first choice drivers of their team and their race in Imola. In case of Mclaren, if assessment of their engine is correct, car setup is critical factor, for the team to have a fair shot at title and given this into account JPM’s Imola race needed applaud from the team bosses.If only someone tell both the Mclaren and Sauber BMW team management the maxim "Correction does much, but encouragement does more."

Mirror, Mirror on the wall who’s richest of them all
This is important news as I have always considered Ex Minardi Boss to be more of racers heart than that of businessman, of course his drivers had to pay for their own seats, but his was friendlier affair in paddock with barbecue, than the glossy catered stuff dished out by the other team. This is clear indicator of the amount of monies Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz paid to acquire Minardi

Interesting Quote
"Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines" -- Enzo Ferrari
Is Norbert Haug listening??

I

April 26, 2006

2006-04-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

Wurz talks of Montoya’s Future
Alex Wurz is a very much respected F1 test driver and while some may feel its bit of big mouth talk for a person who can’t get himself a race drive to talk about a popular race driver’s future on the grid. But the guy has made a sensible assessment of Montoya’s situation.
Juan may continue to race for a lower string team, but to have a decent crack at World championship he needs to be in either a Mclaren or Renault
If indeed Juan fails to find race seat with top team and walks out of sport F1 would be poorer sport to miss out on talented racer like Juan Pablo. It would be really great disappointment if Driver with so much potential would leave the sport without winning the ultimate crown.
All we can say “Juan this is the Moment! And Now is your time”

Cosworth or Toyota that is the question
Sir Frank Williams thought Cosworth would be a perfect stop gap arrangement when engine maker BMW pulled plug on WilliamsF1 venture in middle of last season. First engine manufacturer Williams approached was indeed Toyota, and deal didn’t go thru , Cosworth which came in last moment in picture was never expected to be great option ( though many racing fans knew given Cosworth’s pedigree they would be ahead of the competition in V8 development) ,Toyota would be anxious anyways to close Williams deal so that they can a) plan ahead b) their Midland engagement is not in good shape with customer not meeting payment milestones on time so far
I am sure Nico Rosberg’s fastest lap in Bahrain has put Williams Boss in interesting situation. Personally would love to see long term future for Cosworth with Williams in F1

One puzzle solved
With Jorg Zander who split with Williamsf1 making his plans known. The second piece of puzzle still remains, Mike Gascoyne and his plans, that Toyota has paid him severance till November, if the terms mean that he can’t join rival teams needs to be seen , & even if there is such a clause ,we always have contract management expert like Jenson Button in F1, so Mike can always get professional advice :-P

Mclaren-B?
In recent years Mclaren like Redbull has been supporting young drivers like Lewis Hamilton & Gary Pafett, it would be a good opportunity for these guys to prove their potential in B team. But given the recent history of corporate Mclaren bosses jilting their drivers, one can’t really tell whether or not the young talents will get a drive in the new team. While it has been widely believed that the 12th spot on the grid has gone to prodrive racing headed by Ex-BAR boss Dave Richards, this may just be a rumor. If either of these indeed get a chance to field team on grid ,it may well mean no chance to see Minardi & Paul Stoddart in the paddock

Daily routine
News for Where Will Schumi Go Club J

I

April 23, 2006

2006-04-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Smile returns to Tifosi

Stunner of Qualifier by Schumacher and smart thinking by Ferrari strategists saw emotional Michael to conduct Inno Di Mameli to the joy of Tifosi Fans.

While rivals had hoped that 1:22.795 second laps which saw Michael grab pole was maybe result from running light in qualifier, Michael drove for 20 laps before his first pit stop (Jenson button who was P2 in qualifiers with 1:22.988 pitted on 12th lap) showed that Schumi had done good job in qualifier. First pitstop however proved to be Ferrari’s undoing , with the new tyres graining for Ferrari, hopes for Renault revived with Alonso cutting into Michael’s lead at rate of near a second per lap. Then came the key moment when Renault strategists decided to pit Fernando for his final stop earlier than planned on lap 41 and get him ahead of Ferrari in pit this would have proved to be masterstroke ,but that was not to be, Ferrari thought on their feet got Michael in for a quick pitstop while Alonso was still making his outlap. Result was with 20 laps to go Alonso found himself behind Michael. In repeat of 2005,,however with roles reversed  and two smalls mistakes by Alonso when he  ran wide meant Michael saw the checkered flag 2.096 seconds ahead of Alonso.

Gainers: Montoya who couldn’t use his car in Final free practice and had to switch to T car did a good job to qualify at P7 drove sensibly and won his first podium of season ahead of team-mate Räikkönen  who ended fifth starting 8th on grid.
Webber was another gainer who made most on the race start to get past Kimi and drove strong race to get 3 points for Williamsf1 team
Massa did a good job in first stint of race when he held the field for Michael ,but one yellow flag and surprising lackluster performance of Ferrari in first stint meant team-mate couldn’t make most of help from Massa.

Losers: Honda Duo Button and Barichello couldn’t capitalize of qualifying at sharp end of grid , while Alonso and Massa jumped Barichello on 1st lap. Button and pit crew messed with his second stop when Button raced out with his fuel rig still in car. Reminds me of number of similar screw ups the pit crew did with Sato in 2005 season.

Toyota Duo of Ralf Schumacher & Trulli : While Trulli retired on 5th lap with steering column failure,Ralf couldn’t make much of his P5 qualifier and ended race on 9th position. Best thing that the duo did was not holding a train of cars behind them for which they had become specialists of sorts in last season.

Eighteen month drought is finally over for the Maranello team, question now in minds of fans and rivals will be,is this a mirage or have Ferrari finally found the oasis after  going around for more than a season

Times01 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:31:06.486
02 F. Alonso Renault + 2.096
03 JP. Montoya McLaren + 15.868
04 F. Massa Ferrari + 17.096
05 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 17.524
06 M. Webber Williams + 37.739
07 J. Button Honda + 39.635
08 G. Fisichella Renault + 40.200
09 R. Schumacher Toyota + 45.511
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1:17.851
11 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:19.675
12 J. Villeneuve BMW + 1:22.370
13 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1 laps
14 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 2 laps
Did not finish
17 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 15 laps
18 T. Sato Super Aguri + 18 laps
19 C. Klien Red Bull + 22 laps
20 Y. Ide Super Aguri + 39 laps
21 J. Trulli Toyota + 57 laps
22 C. Albers Midland F1 + 62 laps

I

April 22, 2006

2006-04-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

Imola Qualifiers

Michael Schumacher takes 66th Career pole to break late Ayrton Senna’s record of 65 career poles. With stunning time of 1:22.795 Michael starts tomorrow’s race on front row.
Honda who have fared well at this circuit in recent years did well in qualifiers.Just when we thought Rubens Barichello got better of team-mate Button for his first season at Honda ,Jenson pipped Rubens to take P2 in final seconds of final qualifying session.

Toyota drivers gave impression that they have finally sized up the circuit, they ended up with Ralf Schumacher at P6 and Trulli at P9.Renault & Mclaren surprisingly seemed listless in the qualifiers. Montoya’s started Saturday on bad note with team having to switch his engine from Melbourne GP to spare car as his regular car got a problem with the petrol supply, the fuel pressure. He was still to take P7 ahead of team-mate Räikkönen.

Question for tomorrow is whether Ferrari and Honda are light on fuel that put them on top grid positions. What is the strategy of Renault and Mclaren for the race or Will Ferrari finally end the 18 month winning run of Renault & Mclaren in front of Tifosi Fans.

01 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:22.795
02 J. Button Honda 1:22.988
03 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.242
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:24.884
05 F. Alonso Renault 1:23.709
06 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:23.772
07 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:24.021
08 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:24.158
09 J. Trulli Toyota 1:24.172
10 M. Webber Williams 1:24.795
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:23.771
12 J. Villeneuve BMW 1:23.887
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:23.966
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:24.101
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:24.129
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.520
17 C. Klien Red Bull 1:25.410
18 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.437
19 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:26.820
20 C. Albers Midland F1 1:27.088
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:27.609
22 Y. Ide Super Aguri 1:29.282

I

April 21, 2006

2006-04-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

Renault to stay in F1
That is the inclination we get from interview given by the new Renault team president Alain Dassas. Dassas replaced Patrick Faure who stepped down from F1 duties after 1st race of the season. Recent cost cutting measures which target to reduce budgets of the participating teams, seems to have been decisive factor here. While the latest interview may sound promising, it must be remembered that when the top boss Carlos Ghosn took over the reins of Renault organization last year, he has specifically mentioned that Renault F1 program will be monitored closely on performance (results) and cost-Vs-benefit criterion .With major sponsors Mild Seven and Telefonica planning to pull out of the partnership, Renault still needs sponsors to pump in monies. Of this mild seven withdrawal is certainty ( anti-tobacco regulations around the globe),Spanish company Telefonica is reviewing its options with Alonso moving to Mclaren & possibility of Spanish team entering F1. With all these factors its still a long way for any conclusions, but then Heiki Kova can pull in new sponsors from Finland/ Iceland .They say to fight fire you need fire , to give a spirited fight to Scotch whisky backed Mclaren , Finlandia or Reyka Vodka would be a good choice J

Renault to renew Flavio’s contract
In same interview Mr. Dassas mentioned that renewing Briatore’s contract is top priority thing for the team. For someone whose technical knowledge is as limited to F1 car needs four tyres and runs in direction of nose cone, Flavio has enjoyed fair amount of success, then some of his more knowledgeable rivals. One thing that stands out in this success is his eye to spot opportunity, talent & man management skills. Jarno Trulli for one can surely bet for the man management skills part ,given his Renault experience of 2004 season J

Alonso tips Ferrari Weekend
Championship leader Alonso expects Ferrari to have a good weekend at Imola and also mentions a second place would be good result for him. First we had Michael & now the baton is passed to Alonso. Racer minus Balls = World Champion driver!? Is this the current trend we wonder. Last season there were two instances when Alonso let Montoya overtake him & now to the Champion speak of just working to maintain his lead cushion for another Title ,rather than winning races L

One for the Road
On the Spirited fight story.. Kimi Räikkönen’s colorful nightlife gets Ron Dennis all embarrassed as it is not good for corporate image of the team. Agreed Ron, but what if the kid gets totally disoriented after raising too many a toast promoting your main sponsor and next thing you know the lap dance session starts J

I

April 20, 2006

2006-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Typical F1 Haug-wash
While open and honest communication is not in fashion in these times , F1 has its own shares of stories that suggest that the pinnacle of motorsport is pretty much in lines with ways of world. Mclaren Engine Boss Norbert Haug’s latest interview is just another Hog wash . Best is the statement about team driver Kimi Raikonnen already signing Ferrari deal “And I can hardly imagine that such a decision would be taken behind our back". This statement comes from management man, who first poached a world champion driver to their camp and only after that bothered to share the decision with their current driver as has already been confirmed by the other team boss some time back

I

April 19, 2006

2006-04-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

San Marino GP Preview

The Imola circuit that hosts the San Marino Grand Prix, is a challenging circuit for all the teams. There are few quick corners, many short straights, a relatively smooth track surface and, of course, the famous kerbs that are an integral part of the racing line. In Imola kerbs are going to be the decisive factor when teams setup their cars for the weekend.

Suspension: Most of the teams have been focusing on front suspension in their recent tests.
Engine: 73% of the lap is spent at full throttle, which is among the highest values of the season. However, the longest period spent at full throttle is relatively short, which relieves the pressure on engine pistons; to compensate this, though the generally cool temperatures in this time of year at Imola results in high air density, meaning the engine develops more power and is under greater strain. The average engine speed at this circuit is relatively high, but the main danger for the engine comes from potentially over-revving when the car is launched over the kerbs and the driven wheels lose contact with the ground.
Reliability: The violent use of the kerbs around the lap puts the cars under particular strain, and Imola often sees a high retirement rate.
Tyres: Imola is not a particularly abrasive circuit, meaning the levels of degradation are generally lower.
Overtaking: The short straights mean overtaking is difficult. So the qualifying would be a key ingredient. In new qualifying format, a red flag here or there can jeopardize the qualifying prospects of the entire field ( Note: This is another new track for Yuji Ide and the Dinosaur of Super Aguri car)
Favorites: On current form Renault is the team to beat. But when it comes to past winners, having won 30 per cent of the races held at Imola, the WilliamsF1 Team is the most successful Formula One team in Imola since the inaugural race in 1981. In recent past Honda have done well in Imola. Never to discount the Mclaren team which have finished 1-2 on three occasions.

Imola preview can’t be complete without Mention of Late Ayrton Senna who is associated with Imola for the saddest of reasons. But don't forget that he also holds a remarkable record at the circuit: he started Imola races from pole position an incredible eight times and seven of those were in succession

Ref: f1-fact, FIA site.

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April 17, 2006

2006-04-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Future Ferrari Line-up
The drama surrounding where Kimi will drive in 2007, whether Schumacher will continue in F1 as driver and for whom he will drive is getting, interesting than on track events that happens over 18-19 weekends every year. While idea of Kimi & Schummi driving for Ferrari will be of interest not only to Tifosi fans but to general F1 audience. Given history of Ferrari which has had strict pecking order, about number 1 and number 2 drivers in team, and that Schummi has enjoyed the preferential treatment in Ferrari, whether Kimi will be happy to drive next to Michael.
About the other half of story where Flavio Briatore is trying to allure Michael to Renault, sounds very logical possibility, the logic being, with departure of Fernando Alonso major Spanish sponsor Telefonica is in two minds whether to continue its association with Champions Renault. It would really require some name like Michael Schumacher to hold them back or get another big sponsor. With tobacco manufacturers exiting F1 end of 2006 there is a flux on sponsorship front & lots of big names in drivers being wooed is just another spin-off of this.
As much as I may blame Mclaren Bosses for being blue blooded corporate than red blooded racers ,at the moment they are sitting pretty with a World champion driver ready to drive their car and big sponsors like Johnny Walker ,Emirates Air & Vodafone to fund their future in racing world.

Schumacher assures Tifosi
Speculations aside about his future in F1,Michael appears confident to put on better results in front of Italian fans at Imola coming weekend. The Ferrari detractors are claiming that the form in season opener race in Bahrain was more a result of extensive winter testing team did on Sakhir circuit, the next race at Sepang the Ferrari suffered with engine reliability issues and Melbourne was a big bad dream for the team. Will Imola mark the return of Ferrari we all will find out this time next week.

RBR3 how will it be?
The star designer shares his vision of what is on offer from his side to Red Bull Racing team. And if one goes by the MP421 car that was his parting gift to Mclaren team, Newey fans can be assured that given his talents and Red Bull funds ,we should expect to see another beauty running on the F1 circuit. Question remains how much reliable will be the Ferrari powered customer engines, for the team to hope to build upon the solid foundation that they built since last season

I

April 13, 2006

2006-04-13T02:45:00.000-07:00

Montoya confirmed at RBR !?
Going by David Coulthard’s irritated reaction looks like the deal is already signed. Also read elsewhere Redbull Boss Dietrich Mateschitz quote
"If we invest say 50 million dollars into a wind tunnel, into Ferrari engines and to get Adrian Newey, and the benefit of all this makes the car one second quicker, it simply cannot be that a driver loses that second in comparison with the other. So the logical consequence will be that we need the quickest driver we can lay hands on for 2007, when we shall run with the first car under the guidance of Adrian Newey".
While the prospect of Juan Pablo driving Adrian Newey car will really stir up interests of the race goers, by dumping its ‘young driver’ program in favor of commercial gains ..Alas red bull will be reduced to likes of the corporate minded Ferrari & Mclaren if this happens

More Monies for the Kimi
With latest rounds of talks that Michael Schumacher is renewing his Ferrari contract. That leaves Kimi in interesting and Ferrari in awkward situation. I am not sure how the contract is worded (hope Ferrari lawyers are on top of their job). From Ferrari perspective it should be ‘If Ferrari as not able to give race seat to Kimi starting 2007 they have to pay Kimi Multimillion dollars as severance amount’
Else they can dump Massa and give 2nd Ferrari seat to Kimi, question is what does the contract say if Kimi is not party to this offer that will be a really interesting affair on the way..

Monza Cleared by local authorities
The race is a go , given a choice between Imola and Monza for Italian GP latter is the one I like reason being nice high speed circuit , good overtaking & above all one circuit where my favorite Driver Juan Pablo has a good run on this circuit J

I

April 11, 2006

2006-04-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

Cruel world of F1
As per the latest paddock talk making rounds Michael Schumacher will be renewing his Ferrari contract. So if this happens, what does that mean to the drivers market which is already buzz thanks to Ron Dennis’s scoop. On other side Renault boss has thrown his weight behind his test driver Heikki Kovalainen to replace Fernando Alonso who is moving to Mclaren end of season. With Schummi staying put at Ferrari ..mean one ex champ car is going to be out of race seat end of season ( two in case BMW dumps another) and we have current Champ car series Champion Sebastien Bourdais makes no secret that he still wants to drive in F1 as race driver. My heart goes out to the man, “F1 is a cruel world Sebastien, work ethics, and talent is not necessarily the complete secret to make it big in F1”

Midland Interested in Mike Gascoyne
If this story indeed materializes it would be adding first element of glamour to the otherwise dull Midland outfit. Of course I had met a couple from Japan at Sepang who were actually carrying a small ‘Go Tiago’ poster on them ( at the speed he drives Tiago might have spotted it as well). One caveat is like most of the things in MF1 will management expect Gascoyne to Pay for his services. Of course the talks about MF1 being on sale is still strongly making rounds.

I

April 10, 2006

2006-04-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

Montoya oozes confidence
“For the first time since I have been at Mclaren I could attack in the car. For the first time I have driven the car rather than the car driving me.” This sounds more like Montoya at his best .As a biggest JPM fan; I hope we get to see Montoya backing his words with great races in remaining races of the season.
Playing Devil’s advocate: I’d like to know how Monty explains his sterling performances at Silverstone, Monza & Interlagos in 2005, and not to mention his drive to second place finish at hockenheim starting from back of the grid

Super Aguri express disapproval on Ides’ performance
To be fair to Yuji Ide, the first time the man got decent miles under him was in Bahrain race. Further Bahrain & Malaysia are not narrow tracks like Albert park not to mention the cold condition ,which gave tough time to seasoned drivers like Montoya, Massa, Schumacher & Button their share of embarrassments. Under light of these events, the Super Aguri is asking too much from the 31 year old rookie. While Sato was infamous for incidents on track till last season, it’s his performance from the dinosaur of a F1 car has become the baseline and if Ide doesn’t get his act together in Imola there is a strong possibility that he may be replaced by Satoshi Motoyama. Satoshi did one of Friday drive for the then Jordan team in 2004

Button Joins Nico Fan Club
First place this club wouldn’t have been in place and Nico would have been driving GP2 car for another year and possibly doing some testing. Thanks to generous contribution of Button in form of his buying out his Williams contract we have Nico getting a race seat. Being a Williams fan all I hope is privateer WilliamsF1 outperform corporate HondaF1 this season and Button left to rue on what should have been what could have been if he was racing Cosworth powered Williams FW28

I

April 09, 2006

2006-04-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Most of the teams are busy testing for the forthcoming European leg of F1 championship. This break between Oz GP and Imola would probably be the biggest apart from three week summer break that the teams get to enjoy. Not much happening around and most of the F1 related sites are still posting Toyota-Gascoyne Spilt and Schumacher cutting short his vacation to resume testing.

Two news pieces that catch my eyes are related to incumbent world champion Fernando Alonso .Alonso has been nominated for the prestigious annual Laureus award. The other sportsmen nominated include Ronaldinho (soccer), Roger Federer (tennis), Lance Armstrong (cycling), Tiger Woods (golf) and Valentino Rossi (MotoGP).Each of the names in the list have really excelled in their sports in their own way, while Ronaldinho & Federer are playing surreal, everything they do seem to have magic in it. Tiger woods has been on path of redemption, trying to reach the high standards that he had once set for himself. One person of the list is to one whom Fernando would hate losing , yes I am talking about Valentino Rossi. If someone has noted the Fernando and his reactions on Rossi related questions, while other drivers are always politically correct in their reaction about Rossi in F1, Fernando has been one person who has made no bones that Rossi wouldn’t reach those heights instantly that a F1 driver trains himself, work for becoming one .If you have seen him in new season, he is aping the Doctor especially in his post race celebrations. He is trying to act funny, being funny looks so natural on Rossi, while somehow in case of Alonso his antics seem Sooo very artificial.

I think his signing Mclaren is on same lines when Valentino split with Honda as World Champion and joined rivals Yamaha and continued his winning ways with them. The way the season has started, on current form Alonso stands a good chance as joining Mclaren as incumbent champion.

The other part of equation though only time will tell yes whether Fernando has it in him to make Mclaren rally around him (something like Valentino and Michael Schumacher in F1) and take them to the top of game.

Will the current Mclaren drivers get their act together and make Mr. Alonso’s entry to Mclaren a hollow one ..we will all know by this time next year

I

April 07, 2006

2006-04-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

Schummi to Renault -True or False?
Taking jab at rivals ,seems to be the mood of the moment after Montoya firing a salvo at Kimi , Now sites PF1 and ITV are at it the above news on ITV-F1 has been countered by PFI . So what is the reality...Well who cares lets focus on task at hand the 2006 season

Mclaren on Task at Paul Ricard
While the times put by test drivers may not exactly convert into race points (Honda & Toyota drivers can agree). But nevertheless is comforting to the race drivers. Talking about testing, Jenson Button has been busting his butt on the Vallelunga track since Wednesday, while I admire the work ethic shown by the Brit, till he shows some balls on the track, GP win will remain a distant dream for him

Schumacher believes that Ferrari competent
Just when there are doubts being raised that the podium finish at the Bahrain season opener was all due to the exhaustive testing the team had done on the circuit in winter .Ferrari Ace firmly believes in capability Ferrari 248F1 car to deliver good results. Which makes a 3 way battle at top between Renault, Mclaren & Ferrari, this is good for competition. While Ferrari claims could have been dismissed as PR talk or ones to keep the team morale high, his Rival and incumbent champion Alonso, firmly puts Michael on top of his rival brigade and categorically maintains that the seven time champion is still on top of his game. With European leg to commence in two weeks time we will know the truth in the claim

I

April 06, 2006

2006-04-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Adrian Burgess Shown Midland F1 door
Trevor Carlin was dumped unceremoniously in middle of 2005 season, now its turn of Adrian Burgess. If team owner Alex Schneider is really serious that most dull team on grid has better showing, another person to let go is the team principal Kolles. This person has the divisive traits that will not see MF1 do better. I see Super Aguri whooping their A$$ in this season

Interesting part of story is the customary let go statement from team "We wish him every success as he leaves to pursue other challenges, and we fully expect to see him back in the F1 paddock before too long." Is he going back to where he started, Mclaren I mean. With so much experience staff leaving they can always use experienced resource

Schumie Fumie enters wrong roomy
I had to blog on this hilarious incident myself, It was amusing to see all wound up Michael enter Toyota Garage .. I was yelling ‘Way to go Michael ..cya next year in Toyota with your bro’

I

April 5, 2006

2006-04-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Mike Gascoyne parts ways with Toyota
News of this high profile designer parting ways with Panasonic Toyota racing will be causing waves around the paddock as we know for sure one big ticket shopper (Mclaren) and one top racing team(Williams) have recently lost resources of same expertise as Mike. So the question is where is mike headed to, those who have watched Oz GP 2006 will recollect Midland F1 racing cars indirectly helped Alonso during last three restarts of the race. One person whose prospects were directly hurt was Mclaren Driver Kimi, who could have overtaken Alonso , if Midland duo had not taken the racing line. The reason I am pointing to this incident , was after first two instances , Mike Gasgoyne left Toyota Pitwall and was seen rebuking the Midland pitwall about. So are you heading to Mclaren Mr. Gasgoyne :-?

Ferrari resume testing
Putting the Oz GP failure behind them the team goes back to testing. Starting Bahrain 2005 there has hardly been a day when Ferrari has not tested either at their factory track, or solo testing. For some mysterious reasons all that test effort has not converted into Race results. In recent past season opener at Bahrain was only respite for the Ferrari team. But that probably was their exhaustive test efforts at the Sakhir circuit during the Winter test. At this point of time Renault team is really having dream run,whatever they do is simply falling in place while Ferrari who had been having similar run for past 6 years suddenly seem to be falling apart

JPM takes a rip at team-mate
Though the issue is right Juan, firstly the timing of you mentioning is wrong and secondly in spite of being your loyal fan , I feel its none of your business.

Kimi going for his improving his personal record (fasterst race lap) is not a new thing.He has been doing that throughout his career. While it would be ok to do so in pre 2005 regulations,its kind of stupid of Kimi to stress his engine needlessly. I have talked about this regularly in 2005 season as well, one reason why Kimi gets all those engine penalties as compared to Juan ,is needless bravado he shows by putting in fastest laps in end of race (when race results are almost settled), it is understandable if he is on hot pursuit for position or if he is being chased by other driver. But two instances I remember in last season when JPM won the race, at Silverstone(1.20.502,Lap 60) and Monza (1.21.504, Lap 51), Kimi had resorted to same trick of putting fastest race lap on concluding lap, and then next weekend he had engine penalty.

JPM while the issue is correct ,its for Ron Dennis and Mclaren management to talk to Kimi about it. At the moment all you need is to see whats on your plate ,and make most out of it ,else we have the same scenario in Williams Paddock in 2003

I

April 4,2006

2006-04-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

DC turns 500
With all the crashes and after race investigations one thing that went unnoticed was David Coulthard scoring his 500th GP point. The circumstances under which the point was scored are bit dodgy, as Scott speed of STR finished race 8th , but was given 25 sec penalty for overtaking DC under yellow, and DC made it to the Solitary point. DC has something to celebrate after embarrassment, when his pitwall was yelling at him “You have to overtake the Toro Rosso David” while the whole world was listening to the team radio. Now that he has bagged the 500th point in pinnacle of motor sport, question remains “Is there enough left in the tank for another GP win?” DC

Back Cribbing
The likes have Midland & Super Aguri have raised concerns about the validity of STR contesting 2006 on rev limited V10 engines. The rival teams are attributing to good showing by STR cars on 2nd march

Jordan competes with Minardi for F1 spot
“Once F1 bug bites you can get your system out of F1 but cannot get F1 out of your system” This quote is true for Fans and Paddock fraternity alike. With his ex rivals Paul Stoddart and Dave Richards applying for the 12th spot on 2008 line-up , the playboy from Ireland ,Eddie Jordan has also applied for the F1 entry for his team , So lets wait and watch if its Minardi or Jordan fans who get to see their team on the grid. Personally for me more the field , better. But not sure what is the threshold from logistical point of view, as lots of variables come into picture, and many not in control of FOM, some points that come immediately to mind are track facilities (pitlane,garages for all teams),already FOM is raising hue and cry on older tracks like Silverstone,SPA for lack of facilities.

The More the Merrier
While we are discussing Jordan-Vs- Minardi clash to re-enter the F1 fraternity, we have two Spanish teams in contention for the coveted twelfth spot. I hope FIA does fair evaluation of the application before arriving at conclusion. What if scenario:The newer applicants show better preparedness and capacity ,from resources point, better factory, test facilities, wind tunnels, designers, work force than any of the existing teams like Midland, Super Aguri

I

Drive of a champion

2006-04-02T04:02:00.000-07:00

This was one race which “could” have been a classic, had the back markers not messed it up, and had Alonso not been in prime form, for as it turned out, Alonso was unstoppable. He drove a brilliantly controlled race, and made it look like cakewalk, when the Kimis and Juans and Buttons were battling it out amongst themselves. Towards the end of the race Alonso said something like “I am relaxed” on the team radio, which goes to show how very well he controlled the race and how easy it was for him to literally cost towards the end. Ron Dennis might want to think Kimi had a shot at winning the race, but that’s was never a possibility of that ever happening.

This was a race of attritions and the team, which suffered the most, was Williams, because Mark Webber did look to be in a position with a shot at the podium. Ferrari lost both the cars but those were mainly due to driver errors. Montoya had several moments and eleven laps from the end of the race he crashed out on the last corner, in the same fashion as MS did albeit JPM controlled the car from hitting the barriers, but the anti stall mechanism kicked in and stalled the car. That was the end of McLarens challenge for a second podium.

Fisico… oh Fisico, two seconds a lap slower than Alonso and the world knows it, thanks to his race engineer. Why they chose to air it is beyond me, but I think this is not the best way to go about motivating your driver, and this is certainly not the “team-is-behind-Fisi” approach.

BMW Sauber had a strong showing, and the ever consistent and quick Nick scored some big points today. I some times feel that this guy is ignored way too much, and his performances never bring about the reaction from the media or fans, which a Kimis of Schumacher’s would. JV drove well, and made the most of his one stop strategy with a well-deserved points finish.
Toyota were on podium, and Ralf drove a fine race with a three stopper, plus a drive thru to earn a well deserved podium.

Special mention of the Super Aguri Team for bringing both the cars in, especially Taku San who kept the factory Honda of Rubens Barrichello behind him for what looked like a lifetime. This guys knows how to elk out the last bit of performance from his car. Way to go Taku San!

DC got a rude reminder from Honer to overtake Scott Speed who was ahead of him during the last stages. Whether MR. Honer thought that DC was having a job ride in Albert Park is anybodies guess, but reminding an experienced pilot that he needs to OVERTAKE a pilot who has an F1 experience of 3 races is IMHO very stupid if not tactless.

Well as things stand now, Renault and Alonso are repeating what happened last year, and this year that have a stronger package and unless the upgrades from Woking flow in thick and fast McLaren will have to settle with being the number two team yet again.

My Moments of the race:
1. JPM crashing out
2. Sato holding a string of multi-million dollar budget cars behind him.
3. Fisico & DC being reminded by their pit’s to turn it on.
PS: DC was awarded the 8th palace because Speed overtook him under yellows.

Race Results:
Pos. Driver Team Time Points
1 F. Alonso Renault 1:34:27.870 10
2 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 1.829 8
3 R. Schumacher Toyota + 24.824 6
4 N. Heidfeld BMW + 31.032 5
5 G. Fisichella Renault + 38.421 4
6 J. Villeneuve BMW + 49.554 3
7 R. Barrichello Honda + 51.904 2
8 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 53.817 1
9 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 53.983
10 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
11 C. Albers Midland F1 + 1 laps
12 T. Sato Super Aguri + 2 laps
13 Y. Ide Super Aguri + 3 laps

Did not finish
14 JP. Montoya McLaren + 11 laps
15 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 17 laps
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 20 laps
17 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 25 laps
18 M. Webber Williams + 34 laps
19 C. Klien Red Bull + 53 laps
20 J. Trulli Toyota + 57 laps
21 N. Rosberg Williams + 57 laps
22 F. Massa Ferrari + 57 laps

Saturday Qualifier – Aussie GP 2006.

2006-04-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Local showers, uncertain weather, constantly changing wind directions & track conditions, Red flag, confusion, drama all ingredients for a thriller were present in Aussie 2006 Qualifiers. The results are as

Jenson Button claims first Honda Pole in 2006
With this podium in Aussie GP, JB has potentially first GP win. Overtaking opportunities are less on this track and last two races here Pole sitter has won the race. Can Renault or Mclaren spoil Jenson’s party by some smart work on strategy …

If Jenson Button is looking forward to make most of his qualifying results, his team-mate Barichello, is left to make most of his ruined qualifier. Thanks to one Yuji-San, who initially created red flag( marshals kept it yellow till late which screwed up other drivers) by locking his car on track (poor fellow didn’t know how to reverse his car, until his pit crew gave him directions on team radio he was struggling on track) this messed up session one for rest of the field. Well story of Yuji-San didn’t end there, after the red flag was done with, he went on track again and this time ended up ahead of Barichello, with circuit like Albert park, Barichello was all done in Session One of qualifiers.

Ferrari eliminated in Session two

Massa lost rear of his car out at Turn 9 when he lost control of his car. This caused red flag in Session two. With 5.28 minutes remaining, all cars queued up to exit pit lane ,Michael lost hose like stuff from his car. Schummacher ended 11th on grid

Renault-Vs- Mclaren

Montoya put provisional pole with 1.26 and raised the bar,both Alonso and Fisico stepped up the plate to beat that time. Montoya spun on his next lap, while Button sat on pole, Kimi was his usual self though didn’t set the track on fire on anything like he used to do in Single lap qualifiers. From look of it Mclaren were seriously trying to go for top spot on grid, Montoya even attempted to beat Button’s time on his last lap, but could manage only P5. JPM sounded pretty irritated with car spun ,while Ron Dennis put on brave face and attributed it to fuel load JPM was carrying might have been one reason. If Indeed Mclaren duo are able do go longer on track than their rivals and make use of some clean air in first stint Mclaren have a good race prospects.

Williams – Vs – BMW

BMW put on better show here. Nico lost in second sting in confusion around Massa Red flag , while Webber tried to do everything he could in final session, but judgment error in entering Turn 9 which saw him going in run off area may have hurt his bridgestones and barely any time remaining left him at P9. Heidfield and JV managed P8 and P10,but JV has engine penalty which mean he starts with 10 position below

Australian Grand Prix grid
1. BUTTON Honda
2. FISICHELLA Renault
3. ALONSO Renault
4. RAIKKONEN McLaren
5. MONTOYA McLaren
6. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
7. WEBBER Williams
8. HEIDFELD BMW Sauber
9. TRULLI Toyota
10. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
11. COULTHARD Red Bull
12. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
13. KLIEN Red Bull
14. ROSBERG Williams
15. MASSA Ferrari
16. BARRICHELLO Honda
17. ALBERS Midland
18. SPEED Toro Rosso
19. VILLENEUVE BMW Sauber
20. MONTEIRO Midland
21. SATO Super Aguri
22. IDE Super Aguri

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March 31,2006

2006-03-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

Bernie plans to recycle F1 calendar
This has been making rounds for quite sometime now. Personally I feel while we should have 36 venues around the world, that FOM wants to take game to new markets, but races should be held on every venue every alternate year. And taking into account history and tradition of F1, classic venues like Monaco, Spa, Monza, Silverstone (I’d have added Suzuka to this list as well) be annual fixture on calendar while for the rest of circuits can host race every alternate year. Once in three years would be too much stress on the new venues as most of these are new markets in Motor sports, these circuits are not much utilized after the F1 weekend and hence have become overheads from maintenance perspective

Secret of Renault Flying start
For all the fans who wondered from 2004 onwards the blazing start by Renault cars when the lights turn green, and now the secret is out, as per Briatore managed driver Webber its carrots that Renault drivers eat make their eye sight better than rivals , makes me wonder what happens when Renault drivers leave team and join other, are they contractually prohibited to eat carrots after parting ways with Renault (Button did drive for Renault right, still he was frozen on Bahrain grid ),does Renault have patent on using carrots on grid, for likes of Ferraris and Mclarens with massive team budgets - a pound or two of carrots every Sunday will be well spent on if that converts to race leads and wins J

Button Hope Renaults goof up
After Sepang some fans rightly said only possible scenario when Button will win his maiden GP is when all the race leaders retire. This Button statement is sort of acceptance by Button. Maybe in his bid for World championship , JB will buy himself out of Honda now and go to his old boss Flavio for 2007 ;-)

Montoya Confident about Mclaren Preparation at Oz
Montoya, we know is one outspoken character on grid, who calls spade a spade.So all hope of Macca redemption from this weekend onwards. While their Aero package is second to none, last weeks testing in Paul Ricard by Mclaren test driver De La Rosa must be the confidence booster to the team, well Mclaren engine by Norbert Haug completing three race distances should be a event of its own class J

DC fine if JPM is his team-mate at Redbull in 2007
Key issue raised by DC ( this guy is always good in raising issue,but then he also babbled on the sex and sauna stuff on Malaysian heat ) here is Redbull Driver program and which is valid concern, as the primary reason for Rebull having Junior team on grid is to give opportunity to their up and rising potential candidates. From this perspective Montoya in Redbull again becomes a if and else story , but then that’s how it is in F1. If only Ron had kept the cat under wraps , Fans could have focused on racing and not the drivers market from very start of 2006

Jacques Villeneuve Fastest Race driver in Free Practice 1
This is Good sign JV, but we thought your BMW engine is in second weekend, in which case what’s the logic for pounding it for 16 laps??

Updates

Why Villeneuve stressed out his BMW engine in FP1
So indeed he is going for fresh engine change to make use of revised spec engine, which BMW Management claims to be more reliable. This means 10 spot grid penalty for the Canadian in current set of rules. Anyways good thing is he has put in 40 laps and that should have given him good handle on his car setup. If indeed the revised BMW engine is good in race, BMW & JV can look forward for productive results from the Oz weekend

Free Prac Results
Honda Racing is topping the charts with Jenson leading the race drivers. Is the wait finally going to be the Brit? Apparently many drivers both rookies and veterans struggled to come to terms with the lack of grip in Albert Park. Though Williamsf1 duo of Webber & Nico are lying lowly in the timesheets, the consistent times in low 1.27 and 1.26 put in by their Man Friday Alex Wurz must be comforting the Williams team...

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What’s in a drive?

2006-03-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

A lot, especially if the car you’d be driving is done in chrome and boasts of a power plant provided by a company, which has a three-pointed star as its emblem, and goes by the name of McLaren (MP4-XX).

The recent events in the F1 paddock have been centered around two teams, mainly, Renault and McLaren. And apart from the fact that these two teams were instrumental in giving us a splendid 05 F1 season, they have also been in the news for what can be best described as driver baiting. McLaren turned the driver market on its head when they announced that Alonso would be joining them in 07 and have plans to do the same again this year, if rumors are to be believed, with their newly found interest in Nico Rosberg. It seems that Ron Dennis had a “word” with Sir Frank Williams during the Malaysian GP about the new kid on the block, and though it might be just to congratulate Williams on a great find, it could also indicate McLaren’s interest in “hiring” Nico if Kimi chooses to leave and join some other team. Of course the team denied all this, as is the case often, but it should be noted that Nico holds a German passport (information courtesy Mahesh :-)) and that should be a hugh attraction for Mercedes. Not to mention that fans, especially those from the fairer sex, hound him for his looks, is an added advantage, and such a brand ambassador always attracts sponsors, which in turn is translated into $$$$.

There’s little doubt that Ron has a soft corner for Kimi, but one must keep in mind that he is running a business now, and should his star driver leave, he would need a replacement which is as good if not better than Kimi. Of course he has Alonso, but Bernie once quoted that Alonso is not a peoples champion, and I guess he was referring to the popularity of Kimi and Schumacher VS Alonso. I am not taking anything away from Alonso, but when it comes to attraction off field, he kind of lacks the spark. Kimi though icy, has something about him that the fans like and the only chap I can see who would have a fan following is Nico. He is talented, cool and has that extra element which can land him in the so-called top drives in F1.

So where does that leave JPM, well apparently he is waiting for Kimi to decide, and I am afraid he will be found waiting, unless his blasts the day lights out of Kimi on track, which is a bleak possibility, but could very well happen…. Remember Brazil 04?

March 30,2006

2006-03-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

Sixty seconds chase!?

The sterling performance put in by the Williams rookie Nico Rosberg has not only infused enthusiasm amongst the F1 Fans, but also some predators lurking in paddocks. While n animal kingdom the fastest animal is Cheetah, one of the fastest car on grid is Mclaren(surprisingly its similarly fragile like cheetah).While the bosses have successfully poached current WDC Fernando Alonso to Pilot their car from 2007 season onwards, the situation of second seat is very fuzzy at the moment , One line of thought making rounds is, not wanting to be reduced to #2 status within the team both their pilots are already moving out of Mclaren end of 2006. If that indeed happens, Ron Dennis needs second pilot whose star is on Rising ,enter Nico who has speed ,skills and also looks ( yes eye candy for Female Fans ) ,and no wonder the corporate Mclaren blood must have surely gushed thrice its normal speed. While Mclaren Bosses have categorically denied having approached Williams & Nico for a switch (given the cash strapped situation of Williams Team, approaching Sir Williams is quiet possible) , those who follow F1 know when all parties rubbish claims made by media as piece of imagination , rumor and Bull$**T. 99.99999 times of 100 they are simply denying truth. For some one who has seen girls having no clue of what the F stands in F1 for gushing over Kimi & every thing he does ( does nothing but mumble in inaudible tone outside the car), I can tell indeed Mclaren must have already started flirting with Ni-Comet. Reminds me of the famous remark by the Blue Man "Now that they can't make champions they are buying one". Well corporate Mclaren have already done with the "heart of a racer" tag , now its just "Money talk" thats left for the Woking squad L

Every Body Captured Montoya’s mood at Sepang

I had already mentioned this to my friends already, I was seated on long straight between T14-T15 , from my seat I also had good view of T9-T10 , So I had all opportunity to plan my pictures in advance, and similarly when parade lap started I was searching for Montoya, I saw him & Kimi driven around in parade cars passing Turn 9 , I set my camera ready and was waiting to click the Mclaren Drivers when the passed our stand , and Montoya never looked at the crowd , bore a sullen look on face, , a true JPM Fan didn’t feel like taking that picture … I am sure there is more brewing in Mclaren Garage than what meets the eye.

Flavio Briatore “Supports” Fisichella for WDC

So Briatore confirms that last year most of the issues Fisi had were all of teams doing , well that puts one more facet of F1 in light , Driver is very much dependent on Team Boss and his patronizing is critical for keeping the car and career on track, Are you listening Montoya :P.. Well this is fact for any person’s career right??

Ferrari modifies the controversial “Flexi Wings”

After their pedestrian 2005 performance, the Bully in Ferrari personality seems to have cooled down, when was the last time the team had given a fair hearing to the valid objections raised by the rivals. Not that I remember of …

Cost reduction for more teams on grid

This story on PF1 doesn't exactly echo the claims made by Bernie & Max Mosley , They want to see more teams on grid ,and to do that the costs in F1 have to be reduced. Now the story claims that EX-BAR boss David Richards and Paul Stoddart are both fighting for the 12th entry spot.Then whatever happened of the claims that Roger Penske joining F1 circus and stuff. Lack of transperancy and open & honest communication thy name is F1...

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March 29, 2006

2006-03-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

From the Wind Tunnel

My favorite F1 writer Nikki Reynolds recaps the two races of the season so far, and like always she has level view of the races that have been. One thing that Nikki captured was “Sex & Sauna” comments made by DC before the Sepang race.I wanted to comment on that ,but with Sepang trip and all that went on back burner. Her last remark on jinxing Kimi .well..err.. I hope not. I hope we get to see some good battle on level grounds for all the front runners

Drugs in F1!?

Not exactly was the case ,former racing legend Stirling Moss was passed on pills by another great Juan Manuel Fangio ,when he competed in the 1955 Mille Miglia – a thousand mile road race. The pills kept him awake, maybe F1 fans need something like these when watching races at circuits like Hungoring or Monaco ,where overtaking is simply not possible under normal conditions. Well I have seen two overtaking moves by Heidfield and Webber at Nouvelle Chicane in 2005 edition of the race, which explains the normal conditions part J.

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Minardi is Back

2006-03-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

Character of F1 paddock is back!!!!

Barely within hours of confessing that he is already missing formula1 circus ,Paul Stoddart divulged that he has submitted entry for Minardi to join grid from 2008 season. This is a great news , not only the historic Minardi name is back on the grid , Stoddy is back , the circus needs characters like him.. Welcome back Paul!! We were already missing your outspoken personality...

Webber & Williams assessment by Jacques Villeneuve

For someone who has spent life time in Formula One driving both competitive and non-competitive cars, Jacques in right on money in his assessment about Webber’s performance ( or lack of it as lay fans like me see) . Well its start of season so lets wait and watch his assessment about the promise shown by the Williams team. Outspoken and knowledgeable as he is Jacques is liked ( and disliked) by equal number of people in F1 fraternity, while I have immense respect for him , I wish and pray that his assessment about Williams proves wrong !! It all depends upon the results that Williams drivers get in the earlier races that will keep the team morale high through out the season. But then they need to hire some good designer to replace Jorg Zander who parted ways with Williams recently.

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70% Full Throttle 100% Entertainment

2006-03-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

When one has a look at the circuit map of Albert Park, it’s hard to conceive that for about 70 % of the lap, the engine is screaming at full throttle. And that’s the beauty of the Ozzy GP. It’s deceptive in its appearance, but it’s a damn good place to race at.

The first two races, in my humble opinion, can be treated as warm-up races, as the conditions under which they were conducted won’t be repeated for the rest of the season. Hence one can say that the “season starts now”, albeit with Renault in the saddle and McLaren doing the catch up, sounds like a repeat of 05?

Judging by the first two races, the field is a lot closer than it was in the last decade or more, and this track provides opportunities for the truly good racers to carve themselves out from the rest of the field. Last year Fisico won the race, almost unchallenged, but this year I doubt if he can get on the podium even, if the top four pilots have a trouble free qualifying and race. Alonso will be on the money (his consistency is sometimes boring) and Kimi will be raging to claw back some of the point deficit. JPM will want to set some records straight after his subdued performances in the last two races, and it will be interesting to hear his comments on how his car is handling over the weekend.

Albert park is one of my fav circuits as McLaren Mercedes scored their first win over here in 97, and its always been special because it has hosted the inaugural GP for so long. Although overtaking is not easy on this circuit, the reduced speed of the cars and the ability to follow each other closely thru the corners should make for some interesting attempts and half attempts. This circuit also has a great view from on track cameras, just like the final turn at Monaco. Watch out for first corner incidents, especially involving Button and probably Nico.

If I have to predict a winner, I’d choose Alonso, though Kimi has an equally good chance of winning it.

March 28,2006

2006-03-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

Lessons for Shutterbugs

So mark Sutton shares his trade secret, rather the gear secrets which gets him good snaps. I liked the Montoya & Sebastian Montoya pics there. There is also mention of the Red Bulletin, in the article & and I should say I was amazed at the good job team of 18 people does Friday thru Sunday over the race weekend. These guys were giving away free copies of Bulletins which were published every 3-4 hours with updated paddock tidbits. I have one cute pic from the red bulletin, I will publish it in next post

Five Year Engine Freeze!?

This would make the things pretty much predictable on the grid, in current scenario engine performance ( or non-performance) for most of the cars is well known, assuming that things stay more or less the same start 2008 season ,all we get is same team leading the field from 2008 onwards. On current form Renault has most reliable engine on the grid and its no surprise that they would want status quo on that front. My impression is all it will do is kill competition. FIA should just lay broad framework and not dabble in the nitty-gritty. Else maybe they just go A1GP way where all the car on grid are provided by the organizer and all that the team does is tweak it around during race weekend

Mclaren Melbourne GP Preview

While one of their pilots is categorically claiming that his engine was yielding less power and speed. Mclaren Management is countering the claim; especially the statements made by Mr. Haug are outright denial of the song they were singing in last two race weekends, wherein they had accepted Engine in JPM car had mapping problem which resulted it running slower than Kimi’s Car. So much for teamwork =D>;

Williams F1 - FW28

Image shared by Yuki, WilliamsF1 Fan from Japan , whom I met at the Malaysian GP

2006-03-27T00:59:00.000-08:00

March 27 2006
IRL starts on sad note:
IRL driver Paul Dana lost his life in final practice of series opener race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. I always get this notion that racing in ovals is more riskier than racing on circuits, The only banked oval that F1 cars have to negotiate (the T11-T12 Turn at Indy) has been tough on Ralf Schumacher and he has never been the same driver after he has crashed twice on that oval corner. My sympathies with the family of Dan & the racing fraternity on losing a member.A brief Biography of Paul Dana.

GPMA falls in line:
So like it happens in the F1 world, after all the in fight and bad-mouthing everybody stays in F1 family and Bernie and Mosley have things done their way. On brighter side, well Ferrari will still be competing against the likes of Mclaren & BMW and not likes Midland F1 and Ferrari customers like Red bull

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Whats the matter Juan Pablo?

2006-03-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

Read an interesting article on itv-f1 "TED'S MALAYSIAN GP NOTEBOOK" . Apart from the usual stuff, what caught my attention was his take on JPM.
Its seems that during the Malaysian GP, Massa was catching up with Juan Pablo at a frightening rate (atleast for McLaren) on account of the latter backing off considerably because his engineers told him to "bring the car safely back home". They had to tell him to step on it in order to keep the Ferraris at bay.
Secondly, after JPM's second pit stop he started complaining about his tyres, and at the very moment when he was complaining he set the fastest first sector.

I call this very "Fisichella" kind of behavior, complaining when there is a need to keep the trap shut and concentrate on driving and more importantly mis-interpreting the instruction from the pit crew. Now I can understand JPM's point of view of slowing down to conserve the car, but surely one knows what is the margin by which he should slow down yet be competitive. Is he thinking too much?

I like JPM and his driving style, and was overjoyed when he arrived at McLaren, but his race pace has been a shadow of what it was when he was in the white and blue overalls, and his driving is very much DC like, calculative and non spectacular. He will get the job done, no doubt, but his consistency is still a big question mark. I remember seeing a video, which Mahesh had mailed me couple of years back, when JPM was on a qualifying lap in his CART days, and he literally brushed the side barriers on one of the corners. That’s the image which I'd like to see this guy thump upon his rivals, but I am afraid he is too busy thinking about which car he would be driving next year, rather than taking the fight to Kimi and company in any equipment which is given to him.

Its in the head Juan, don’t race to win a contract for next year, just race to rip the track and kick some back, you'll get the best deal out there if you manage to do so.

2006-03-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

March 25 2006
Alonso steal to Mclaren reconstructed:
So if this is what happened really it makes me wonder,in this age abundant communication tools how come Alonso was not able to reach his mentor Flavio at the crucial moments. Contrast is Ron just lifts phone and calls his drivers to inform them about the new hire on board

Mclaren 1994-2005
In certain ways it tells changes in F1 culture than an now. As Nilesh puts its while we had red blooded racers then,we get the blue blooded businessmen. Personally a Red blooded racer would have gone back to the drawing board fixed issues which lost them double title last season (reasons were engines and not pilots),taken the pilots in confidence,and had a go at it with renewed fervour.Alas thats not to happen in modern F1 .....

Bye Bye Suzuka !?
Its official now we have a race in Fuji in 2007 season.Does this mark the end of Suzuka race.Not necessarily,like there have been two German ,there are two Italian races ,there can be two events in Japan. I feel while Bernie is searching for new venues , the classic old ones needn't be bumped off the calendar , they can just be flipped alternate year. On personal front , lets hope blessings of all the friends from Japan I met at the Malaysian GP come true & I get to meet them at Suzuka GP.

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2006-03-24T02:24:00.000-08:00

March 24 2006
Mosley on Offensive:
While it should be said that Mosley has come up with many Stupid Ideas during his tenure, he surely has caught GPMA on back foot when he clearly states that GPMA just criticizes, but doesn’t participate in constructive discussion and alternate ideas. Now if Renault deserts GPMA & continues in F1 circus, all that will be left of GPMA is Toyota, Honda, BMW and Mercedes. I am not sure fans will pay monies to see race between Toyota Honda and BMW. About Ron Dennis, I have doubted that he is planning to park the Mclaren in Bernie’s Garage; he just wants the bigger piece of pie. That is reason why he has hired services of WDC Alonso for 2007 and later and also going around getting big sponsors like Vodafone for the Macca.

Tit for Tat ?
Flavio says he can do to Ron Dennis what Ron did to him by signing Alonso for Mclaren. But knowing Flavio who would rather groom a young gun on less monies ,like he did with Schummi & Alonso ,it seems unlikely . But then there is Sr. Renault management ,who have since 2005 have categorically stated that they will continue the F1 project as long as they see the results, which leaves the equation open.

Essential Sins !?
Agreed that tobacco sponsorship for sports events be done away and most of the F1 teams will be doing away with their association with cigarette making sponsor by end of 2006 season. The way Mclaren solved problem was brought in Liquor sponsor Johnnie Walker in place of West; also We have Beer manufacturing Giant Fosters as official sponsor of Formula One . Is the message being sent to public while its ok to drink and drive , please don’t smoke. I feel this is all a sham

New Rules

Scrapping of Entry fee is the best thing I can see here, will encourage more teams to join the series. Someday I can have my own team on the grid who knows

Testing restrictions : Good for smaller teams ,who don't have as many resources as bigger teams

Engine Development Freeze : Bad , if F1 claims to be pinnacle of motorsport , research and development shouldn't be stopped in the sport. While I am fully in favor of doing away with the technical gizmos on board ,automatic traction control and all the driver aids which have been killing talent and reducing drivers to robots. But Engine and Chassis development are heart and art of Motorsport alongwith Driving Skills,and ability of drivers to overtake.

Single Tyre supplier : if FIA wants more teams on grid ,why prevent Tyre suppliers from joining the party. Having single tyre manufacturer kills the competition and development on the tyre front ,and also this move increases the risk of repeat of USGP 2005 , now we can have scenario where the FIA approved Tyre supplier comes to venue with wrong tyres and that leaves spectators with No Show. This is more of personal vendetta against Michelin , the way I see it

Two teams engine supply restriction : reduces the option of team principal (customer) ,if a team principal want to have BMW to power his car he may have to end up with Dallara or Lola because there are already two teams on grid running on grid. Of course this will also bring in more engine suppliers like Lola, Dallara ,who specialize in manufacturing Race Engines.

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2006-03-22T00:56:00.000-08:00

March 22 2006

Trivia : Renault 1-2 win
This was only the second-ever one-two finish in Renault's Formula 1 history, and the last time it happened was on 25 July 1982 at Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France Â that possibly one of the greatest seasons in the sport's history( Keke Rosberg had won WDC after one race in the season , but there were no driver who had multiple wins in that season either) , The 1-2 podium finishers for the French outfit was the French Driver duo of Arnoux & Prost ( Oh yes Nico was not yet born and so was Alonso ).

Will this season go down to wire like that and will history repeat itself again ? We will know by end of the season.

Rise of Ni-Co met

Nilesh has posted Nico Rosberg has WDC written all over it, I fully agree with this assessment. The Guy is a fresh air on the grid. To outqualify your team-mate who is renowned for his qualifying abilities is a feat in its own. As much as I understand he is bit raw when it comes to understand the ways of "F1" but that is good part. I would give him this season and the next before he wins WDC.

WDC in first two season logic

My rationale, in current days with all technologies loaded on F1 car , people who make name for themselves in other series (where more driver skills are required) have that racers spirit in them , which gets muted with every passing season they hand around in F1 , JV and JPM are classic cases of 'what could have been'. Like Michael Schumacher has correctly stated , to join ranks of F1 all one needs to do is be good in Karting , which basically means having steering control and accelator controls. JPM, JV are here from CART series which has less technology onboard and more driver skills are required,but having acquired those, to come to F1 one needs to unlearn many of those. Jacques was a case who blazed the other racing series came to F1 was on heels of his team-mate who won WDC that year, rallied the team around him the next year and won the title in second season. Nico needs to take that path as well. While he must have his engineers all inspried by his raw potential, he needs to keep that tempo by aiming for podiums ,few DNFs here are there would not hurt him this season. This will keep the team in hunt and keep them motivated to get those steady set of upgrades throughout the next season which is what needed to have the title under your belt.

Where does JPM fit in ?

Juan Pablo started on right note in 2001-02 and 2003 could have been his chance of glory but thanks to spat with Ralf that made him sign with Mclaren in 2003 meant that he would have written off his 2004 chances even before the season started. What happened in 2005 is well known , while he was driving surreal race one day , next day he got tangled with backmarkers. Mystery injury didn't do good to his chances as well.Now looks like RBR F1 racing is interested in JPM . While JPM Driving Adrian Newey Designed car is a mouth watering prospect to look forward to in 2007.One big downside is Ferrari customer engines that RBR signed, this probably is their only wrong move after their Debut on the F1 grid in 2005 season. How I wish like in IT the term service level agreement SLA had some relevance in the world of F1.

Sepang 06 - Fisi's lucky escape

2006-03-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

The fact that Renault “accidentally” put double the amount of fuel in Alonso’s car for qualifying sealed Fisi victory of the Malaysian GP.

After a fantastic and classical Bahrain GP the expectations from this GP were high and had Kimi and Williams not registered DNF’s, it could have been a race to remember. Even the rain gods didn’t “bless” the organizers with their showers and the only moments the race had to offer was Taku Sans heroics.

So what can we infer from the race. The most obvious conclusion, which could prove dramatic in deciding the season is that Ferrari are clearly not on pace, and their result in Bahrain was a result of massive testing they did on that circuit. MS and Massa were not on pace with the front-runners and it must be a disappointment for the thousands of Tifosi’s. Secondly, Renault have yet again built a bullet proof car, and they are the team to beat. Alonso is in his elements and Fisi seems to be doing well than last year. Thirdly, BAR has the pace but is it enough to challenge for race wins, well, maybe on occasions when they get a daemon setup on their cars. McLaren were off pace, and JPM had a race which can be described as consistent but not spectacular, and thats not what you expect from the master of overtaking. But there’s hardly anything he can do, when the car is not up to it. Williams are the surprise package and they will be challenging the Renaults and the Mclarens for sure, that Nico guy has future WDC written all over him.

So now the circus moves to Ozzy land, and the cooler temperatures there would well put my theory to NULL. Kimi cannot afford any more DNF’s and though Klien is partly to be blamed to taking Kimi out, the line which Kimi took going into turn 4 was not the best, one can argue. So maybe there’s a lesson for Kimi.Roll on Melbourne, and heres hoping that JPM gets a better Merc engine to power his challenge.

2006-03-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

March 16 2006

Revisiting the memories of USGP'05

Visit to "Autograph Signing session" by Kimi Raikonnen organized by his sponsors Tag Heuer was a big let down.Sponsors publicized the event as "Autograph signing session" and all the crowd got was regular monosyllable drone from the Fin and his beating the local minister in simulator race (with all organizers huddled around the simulators).

I can compare this to USGP'05 fiasco ,well at least Michelin ( though it was not their mistake) showed graciousness to refund the ticket holders . Will Tag Heuer make Kimi sit on his A$$ and give personalized autographs on his photograph and make these available to Fans !? I couldn't bear watching the scenes of howling kids carrying Mclaren diecasts with hope that, they would be able to meet their hero(!?) in person ..And then Bernie accuses Schummi as not being accessible to public ,maybe he need to have a good talk with his young pilots once.While its common in the rival series of IRL, Champcar to give chance to fans to meet the drivers,will F1 ensure that they take a lead in bringing the sport closer to common fan ?.

Kimi's Denial on Ferrari Deal

Umpteenth denial by the Finn.But like it happens in F1 ,rumors have more truth in them.
But then maybe he is true ,coz the next pic from yesterday's "ripoff session" tells that the man has already sold his soul to the devil J .

Ron's Routine

Well really tells something about Mclaren as an organization, Ron & Martin sing two different tunes.And like they did at end of 2005 pass the buck on their pilots.All the same it also tells within Mclaren there are set of people who don't want Kimi to leave the team. I am sure JPM has already found a new home for himself for the next season,Only wish and pray that he leaves the team after making the statetement thru his performance i.e Winning the WDC. Well but then the catch is Pilot is as good as the car he drives .....

Next post on what to expect at Malaysian GP...

2006-03-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

March 15 2006

Monotoya Exonerated
Many thanks Mr. Whitmarsh, I only hope you remember this clarification next year , or else next thing we hear is blaming the drivers for no fault of theirs , like you and H.H Ron Dennis did endo f season 2005.When even a person not following F1 was aware, that engine reliability was one reason that costed Mclaren both WDC & WCC in 2005 season. What are they finally planning for JPM at Sepang,effectively the team has tanked two races for Monty.

Driver Loyalty
While they are not loyal to the Drivers themselves they expect the Drivers to be loyal to the team , its not one way street Mr. Dennis!!!

Who is Lewis Hamilton by the way ?

Talking of Lewis Hamilton here is a small interview of the guy on Mclaren Site interesting tidbit - His favorite Driver is Kimi and Kimi did something similar on same venue starting from 22nd place of grid to get podium finish albeit on a different step of podium and in different racing series.

Wing beneath the wings for Williamsf1

With good start at Sakhir Williams team is upping the ante. After BMW severed ties with my all time favorite team,I had been secretly wishing that 2006 should be one season which should make BMW realize their folly on blaming Williams management for the team's failure to win WCC in 6 years of their partnership

Something about new kid on the block

A lot has been talked after Sunday race about Nico Roseberg and his dream F1 debut, one old interview at grandprix.com to know more about the man.

Ferrari defending rear wing

Well when was the last time when Ferrari violated rules and FIA took action on them , not that anybody can remember , in recent past. FIA and Ferrari are just two sides of same coin , Ah well where can I put bridgestone now that two side are allocated .Anytime a Non Ferrari team comes up with some inovation F1 authorities will punish them, and same goes for biased treatment FIA has given to Michelin, and the lengths and breadth it has gone to make rules favor Bridgestone.

While the F1 circus is in KL what the heck am I doing, well more on that ...

2006-03-13T00:45:00.000-08:00

Bahrain Leftovers

Williams camp Buoyant
Understandably Williams camp is in Buoyant mood after Bahrain, Nico & Williams bosses are even claiming if not for his incident on first corner of first lap , Nico could have been a podium contender

Nico applauded by Sir Jackie Stewart
Looks like we have one more cool headed Finn on the grid ,not all drivers have cool head to recover from one mistake they make in race ,as more experienced Massa proved it.Only question here is I saw Nico racing under German flag

Montoya explains his low key race

All the same JPM was at speed with Kimi ,in fact he has posted faster lap of the two Mclaren just before his 1st pitstop ,Kimi posted his fastest lap before his only pitstop as well!! For me its the two stop strategy that held JPM back and one stop strategy that gave Kimi chance to make it to the podium, is there any place where we can get lapwise times for all the drivers , I 'd like to plot some graphs thru the season

Why DC let Nico pass him in finishing stages

Another point which came from Alonso & Kimi's post race conference hints that while Michelin compound was superior during early part of race, Bridgestone runners did well in latter half of the race. Yes Red Bull are also michelin runners for those who care

Uncle Schummi how art thou ??

In concluding part of same conference some scribes where really hellbent to piss of Schummi.Man Don't step on toes of guy approaching midlife ,last thing I want to see is Schummi piercing eyebrow like Luizzi ,streaking his hair and entering paddock in skin tight jeans and Leather jacket ,trying to ape a teenage rebel

Few Dummy observations

a) Kimi didn't put in "fastest lap of the race" on the final lap ,as he did frequently last year,looks like "nursing the engine" concept has finally entered the finn's head

b) On same note if Barichello had lost gear mid race what was the point stressing out the engine rather than retreat and protect the engine

Renault Technical Director Applaudes Kimi

Now this is very interesting peace of news especially under light of situation that Kimi's current boss is asking him to put pen on paper with current term & conditions

Signoff on winning note

Renault's F1 Patrick Faure decided to signoff on a winning note...

2006-03-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Good Opening to 2006 season

Fernando Alonso saw through resurgent Ferrari's challenge to start the 2006 campaign of his title defence in style.All in all the race was delight for racing fan who got to see lots of on track action,overtaking moves and lots of pit-stop action as well.
While Mclaren did a good job in recovering from qualifying mishap of Kimi , Rivals will be on watch for Williams duo who gave lots of smile to Sir Frank Williams

Drivers Results :
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:29:46.206 10
02 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 1.246 8
03 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 19.360 6
04 J. Button Honda + 19.992 5
05 JP. Montoya McLaren + 37.048 4
06 M. Webber Williams + 41.932 3
07 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:03.043 2
08 C. Klien Red Bull + 1:06.771 1
09 F. Massa Ferrari + 1:09.907
10 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1:15.541
11 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1:25.997
12 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1 laps
13 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
14 R. Schumacher Toyota + 1 laps
15 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
16 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
17 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 2 laps
18 T. Sato Super Aguri + 4 laps
DNF:
19 Y. Ide Super Aguri + 20 laps
20 J. Villeneuve BMW + 28 laps
21 G. Fisichella Renault + 36 laps
22 C. Albers Midland F1 + 57 laps

Team Standings:
1. Renault 10
2. McLaren-Mercedes 10
3. Ferrari 8
4. Honda 5
5. Williams-Cosworth 5
7. Red Bull-Ferrari 1

Tyre War:
Michelin 26
Bridgestone 13

Renault: The 2005 champions start new season where they left in Shanghai.And ist same for their two pilots. While Alonso saw off Schumi's challenge.Fisi couldn't repeat his 2005 Season opener win. While he retired with hydraulics trouble, 36 laps to go .his outburst on botched pit-stop got good TV coverage.

Mclaren: Kimi continued where he left in 2005 in a way starting from back of grid having not posted times in qualifiers. But this proved to be a boon in disguise perfect one stop strategy saw him getting the last place on the podium and beat Montoya .Montoya who had a quiet race after starting with a bang by overtaking Button on Race start. He didn’t challenge Button when he overtook him twice during the race. While it is apparent that Both Mclarens where heavy on fuel Two pit stop strategy got Montoya out on fifth position after his final pit stop and he drove safe to bring his car home with 4 points for team rather than taking risks when Button challenged his postion twice in race. All in all Mclaren will be happy that the car is on pace with the rivals and if life they claim their engine woes have been cured ,they can look forward to good season ahead.

Ferrari: Schummi brought smiles and tears of joy back to Ferrari Garage with his second place finish.Massa and Ferrari crew didn’t do each other great favor.Nerves got better of Massa when Fernando challenged him on Turn 1 when he lost control of car and in doing so flat spotted his tyres, Ferrari pit crew who gave Schummi brilliant pitstops ,messed when Massa came in for tyre changes and result was Massa ended up lowly after he emerged from pit. From then on it was all driving thru traffic and ending up ninth shows that Ferrari had potential for double podium finish. But never the less the team has lots of positives to take from this race

Honda : While so much was said about Honda and the form they showed in Winter World championships ( Winter testing), Button was nervous on race start and gave way to JPM and Fernando make most out of that JPM move on Button, then while for sometime Rubens got better of Button , but mechanical troubles saw Rubens losing his position through out the race, while Button was left to fight with two Mclaren cars in quest for podium finish. Toyota did not do much favor to him by blocking his way out of his final pit stop which resulted in Kimi making to the final podium. Honda have to look over their shoulders especially with form of the next team discussed here

Williams: Based on form shown by teams in their winter testing , it was speculated that Renault, Honda,Mclaren and Ferrari will be fighting for the battle at top while the other question was for the Middle pack who would be leading the way.From what Bahrain showed us Williams are the team to be , Cosworth power in back of car and two good drivers fetched the team 5 valuable points from the first race. Williams has been an all time personal favorite & I have been always rooting for this team , Looks like racing fan like me has one more reason to root for this team and the reason is Rookie Nico Rosberg !!! while he has advantage of track experience of all F1 tracks on calendar with GP2 racing title under his belt , he showed nerves of steel while taking on F1 experienced drivers like Coulthard and Klien. Showing true racers attitude , he was just not content in beating DC to grab eighth place, he stretched himself further to beat Red Bull of Christian Klein to take his tally of debut points to two. I am looking forward to hear more from this bloke in time to come !!
Red Bull: for a team whose winter testing was screwed up by heating problems of Ferrari powered engines, the team had good race ,Klien drove the car well and DC who thanks to the new qualifying format got chance to fuel to brim to start his race, stayed on track for more and gained lots of places and was in position to get 7-8 place finish for Red Bull , but not for the new kid on the block and if not for the Cosworth power. I am sure Redbull bosses must be feeling same way like Peter Sauber whose Ferrari powered cars really never took off in races.
Toyota: After being first car to release their 2006 car and showing initial promise in winter test , Toyota are back where they were in latter half of 2005 season ,middle of pack, new qualifying format has done no favor to their One lap specialist pilot Trulli and end of race Ralf Schumacher and Trulli find themselves ending 14 & 16 respectively. Unless they come up with some dramatic improvements Toyota should be in middle of the pack or end of the mid pack on their current form

BMW Sauber : While old partners had lots of cheers,same was not case for BMW camp.Both Heidfield and Villeneuve drow decent race , and the car showed a lots of promise , BMW did not carry much from Bahrain apart from telemetric data and Villeneuve memory of spectacular fire to his car on track which saw him belly out on lap 29

Midland: are where they were in 2005 under Jordan banner, While Montiero continues to bring car home at lowly 17 place finish his team mate Albers returned to hut on lap 1 after having initially started race from pit lane

Torro Rosso : While both their rookies (if we consider Luizzi as rookie) ended up 11-13 position their straight line speed and that they are ahead of BMW, Toyota MF1, is surely going to have their rivals raising their voices over the detuned V10 races the team is running their cars.So We have more off track stories to chew on this one for sure

Super Aguri : They came they saw , they ended up as mobile Chicanes, Best part was Taku-San bringing the car home without hurting himself or anyother car on the track . Partner Ide saw his F1 debut eventful ,first a drive through penalty thanks to goof up of his mechanics.Next in line was he lost his radio contacts and accidentally came for refuel when it was call for Taku-San. And then when we saw his car getting stalled and end of race, we see him gain on track to ‘gain’ valuable track experience!? What does Bernie and his cronies Charlie and others have to say about this , These guys are potential hazard on track to themselves and other cars. Comedy was not yet over when after initial gaffe , Taku pitted again the fuel rig proved faulty , meaning Aguri had to go begging for one in the pitlane to get their driver some fuel. If they are not ready FIA could have held them off for another year , just because the Japs are distressed not to see Taku-San on grid ,is not reason to hurry this hotchpotch on grid.

Overall good start to season and watch out for Williams team and their brilliant rookie .

Next week Circus comes to Kuala Lumpur and I will be having my second trackside F1 race experience

I

2006-03-11T04:23:00.000-08:00

March 11 2006 - Qualifying as it happened

01. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m31.431s
02. MASSA Ferrari 1m31.478s
03. BUTTON Honda 1m31.549s
04. ALONSO Renault 1m31.702s
05. MONTOYA McLaren 1m32.164s
06. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m32.579s
07. WEBBER Williams 1m33.006s
08. KLIEN Red Bull 1m33.112s
09. FISICHELLA Renault 1m33.496s
10. HEIDFELD BMW 1m33.926s
11. VILLENEUVE BMW 1m32.456s
12. ROSBERG Williams 1m32.620s
13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m32.850s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.066s
15. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m33.416s
16. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m34.606s
17. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m34.702s
18. ALBERS MF1 1m35.724s
19. MONTEIRO MF1 1m35.900s
20. SATO Super Aguri 1m37.411s
21. IDE Super Aguri 1m40.270s
22. RAIKKONEN McLaren no time

Ferrari's make it to front row at Bahrain race tomorrow in doing So Schummi equals late Ayrton Senna's record of 65 pole position.

Session started dramatically with Kimi Losing the rear wing (so much to piss of the sponsors Mr.Dennis) and thus not posting any time and starting at end of field, he must be experienced in seeing end of grid now.

Teams were confused in first session as everyone was waiting for other cars to sweep the circuit for them thus causing pandemonium and huge traffic in pit lane with 4 minutes remaining
Montoya put a stunning lap in first split and held P1 till Alonso displaced him to P2.

Well I am so very angry with Star Sports last 10 minutes for qualifiers remaining they switch to English Premier league Soccer telecast leaving minority motorsport fans in limbo :-(

ITV telecasts deferred live by one hour :-(

I am off for dinner ..hope we have a good race tomorrow.

Adios

I

2006-03-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

March 11 2006..

Bahrain GP friday practice and Mclaren team already has a situation Kimi had electrical problems which left him stranded on circuit in free practice,while JPM has raised concern that his car is running 7 kmph slower than Kimi's car, whoa things don't look brighter here.
As we write this Macca is not providing different engine to JPM, not a good news for the fiery Colombian. This is sad ,theoratically if he drives with this engine in Bahrain and carries this one to Malaysia ( With weather and all ) effectively his two races are tanked ..Thank you Mr. Dennis and Mr. Haug <<>>

While most of the teams had concerns about Torro roso running detuned V10 cars, their timings in free practice is better than some of the cars in mid-field,I am sure FIA has a situation here. Will we have similar situation where Honda was docked by FIA in 2005 ?? another thing is how soon can STR come up with V8 engine , given that their supplier is Cosworth , does cosworth has capacity to produce V8 engine on such short notice , already they are supplying WilliamsF1 team. lets see how this one build up....

Rest is as expected, third drivers shouting on top of lungs Ant Davidson and Alex Wurz topping the charts . point to be noted in all racing drivers Schummi has topped the free practice,will Bahrain training help Ferrari to start season on a bang we will know by end of the weekend

Champions Renault preferred to have quiet friday , both their drivers just ran 6-7 setup laps ,thats it

Small note Doornbos fined for speeding in pitlane ,well this guy is not new to racing ,has one F1 season behind him ...how can he do a rookie mistake , I am sure his country man Christien Albers will have some choicy things to say on this .

I am off for now lets wait for the qualifiers and what they unfold

Adios

I

2006-03-10T01:39:00.000-08:00

March 10 2006..

2006 season starts - Drivers get your engines started well another 2 days and lights will turn green and another F1 season will commence. Will try to be regular in posting the details of races and F1 happenings between races ( there is more happening between races in F1 world anyways )..So keep watching this space.

I